... the Fed as a major power broker in the financial system that doesn't answer to Congress.
The verb should be "refuses to answer" rather "doesn't answer." The Federal Reserve is charged in the Federal Reserve Act with reporting to the Congress, and they have willfully refused to do so.
While an audit is certainly a good idea, it might well be better to simply give the Fed the Jacksonian treatment.
“The verb should be “refuses to answer” rather “doesn’t answer.” The Federal Reserve is charged in the Federal Reserve Act with reporting to the Congress, and they have willfully refused to do so.”
Not so. Maybe you’ve missed all those C-SPAN times when Bernanke and his predecessors testified to Congress. If Congress wants something, they can just ask. He testifies regularly.
“While an audit is certainly a good idea, it might well be better to simply give the Fed the Jacksonian treatment.”
A depression ensued when it was done the first time. Is that what you want? ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson#Opposition_to_the_National_Bank
The bank’s money-lending functions were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that sprang up. This fed an expansion of credit and speculation. At first, as Jackson withdrew money from the Bank to invest it in other banks, land sales, canal construction, cotton production, and manufacturing boomed.[27] However, due to the practice of banks issuing paper banknotes that were not backed by gold or silver reserves, there was soon rapid inflation and mounting state debts.[28] Then, in 1836, Jackson issued the Specie Circular, which required buyers of government lands to pay in “specie” (gold or silver coins). The result was a great demand for specie, which many banks did not have enough of to exchange for their notes. These banks collapsed.[27] This was a direct cause of the Panic of 1837, which threw the national economy into a deep depression. It took years for the economy to recover from the damage.