As the time to make or break the Fiat Money Overlords (no, not Chrysler), aka the Successor to the
Second Bank of The United States which President Andrew Jackson managed to disassemble in 1832, yet which came back with a vengeance in 1913 under the guise of the Federal Reserve, approaches, two independent amendments emerged today: one drafted by Fed transparency proponents Ron Paul and Alan Grayson (
found here) and one by Bank of America and Citigroup's favorite Congressman, North Carolina democrat Mel Watt (
found here). As a reminder, here is a list of the
Congressman's top contributors and sources of money in 2007-2008, which may explain some of his motivations: #1 Bank of America;#2 Wachovia Corp;#3 American Express;#4 American Bankers Assn.
Some more color:
Overall in 2007-08, (Watt) received $187,359 from the Finance/Real Estate sector, more than double the amount of money he received from any other sector. Outside of North Carolina, his home state, Watt received the most contributions from Washington D.C. and New York City.
Here is what the HuffPo had to say about the parallel fight between these two amendments, whose outcome will undoubtedly determine the future of America's financial, and thus political, system:
Watt pitched his amendment in a letter to colleagues circulated Tuesday. "While my amendment will certainly fall short of demands by those intent on destroying the independence (if not the existence) of the Fed, the critics of my amendment will have to concede...that my amendment will provide transparency of the Fed's financial operations that will be completely unprecedented," he wrote.
In fact, the critics are conceding no such thing. "The Watt Amendment, as written today, actually places new restrictions on the little authority that exists, such as it is, for independent auditing of the Fed," Grayson said. "It keeps in place all existing restrictions and adds four more. So I don't see why anybody would reasonably think that it creates unprecedented authority to audit the Fed."
It should be pointed out that Ron Paul's Bill HR 1207 to Audit The Fed has 310 co-sponsors currently: a number sufficient for seamless passage of the bill, absent such purposeful roadblocks as Mr. Watt.
An ever eloquent Grayson had this to say about the recourse the Watt amendment would provide to those intent on "auditing" the Fed: "Count the pencils on the desks," Grayson speculated.
