Spitzer: Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, an inside job’

[Prada]

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/...an-inside-job/

The Federal Reserve — the quasi-autonomous body that controls the US’s money supply — is a “Ponzi scheme” that created “bubble after bubble” in the US economy and needs to be held accountable for its actions, says Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and attorney-general of New York.

In a wide-ranging discussion of the bank bailouts on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, host Dylan Ratigan described the process by which the Federal Reserve exchanged $13.9 trillion of bad bank debt for cash that it gave to the struggling banks.

Spitzer — who built a reputation as “the Sheriff of Wall Street” for his zealous prosecutions of corporate crime as New York’s attorney-general and then resigned as the state’s governor over revelations he had paid for prostitutes — seemed to agree with Ratigan that the bank bailout amounts to “America’s greatest theft and cover-up ever.”

Advocating in favor of a House bill to audit the Federal Reserve, Spitzer said: “The Federal Reserve has benefited for decades from the notion that it is quasi-autonomous, it’s supposed to be independent. Let me tell you a dirty secret: The Fed has done an absolutely disastrous job since [former Fed Chairman] Paul Volcker left.

“The reality is the Fed has blown it. Time and time again, they blew it. Bubble after bubble, they failed to understand what they were doing to the economy.

“The most poignant example for me is the AIG bailout, where they gave tens of billions of dollars that went right through — conduit payments — to the investment banks that are now solvent. We [taxpayers] didn’t get stock in those banks, they didn’t ask what was going on — this begs and cries out for hard, tough examination.

“You look at the governing structure of the New York [Federal Reserve], it was run by the very banks that got the money. This is a Ponzi scheme, an inside job. It is outrageous, it is time for Congress to say enough of this. And to give them more power now is crazy.

“The Fed needs to be examined carefully.”

Spitzer resigned as governor of New York in March, 2008, after news reports stated he had paid for a $1,000-an-hour New York City call girl.

At the time, Spitzer had been raising the alarm about sub-prime mortgages. In the wake of the economic meltdown triggered last fall by sub-prime loans, some observers have suggested that Spitzer may have been targeted by law enforcement because of his high-profile opposition to Wall Street financial policies.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast wrote that federal agents’ revealing of Spitzer’s identity as a call-girl customer was no coincidence.

Palast wrote that the principle of “prosecutorial discretion” is often used to keep the names of high-profile persons out of the media when they are tangentially linked to a criminal investigation. In the case of Spitzer, the Justice Department chose not to invoke prosecutorial discretion.

Funny thing, this ‘discretion.’ For example, Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, paid Washington DC prostitutes to put him in diapers (ewww!), yet the Senator was not exposed by the US prosecutors busting the pimp-ring that pampered him.

Naming and shaming and ruining Spitzer – rarely done in these cases - was made at the ‘discretion’ of Bush’s Justice Department.

Spitzer recently told Bloomberg News that President Obama’s regulatory reforms of the financial sector are “irrelevant” because regulatory agencies have not been enforcing corporate laws to begin with.

“Regulatory agencies already had the power to do everything they needed to do,” he said. “They just affirmatively chose not to do it.”

– Daniel Tencer

The following video was broadcast on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, Friday, July 24, 2009:

[SMCengineer]

HR 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act - 276 Co-sponsors!
S 604: "Sunshine Act" (senate companion bill) - 19 co-sponsors!

The subtly, brillance, and simplicity of the bill is amazing with all it's possible implications.

[thegodfather]

Too bad someone with more credibility isn't on MSNBC talking about the Fed.

[SMCengineer]

Too bad someone with more credibility isn't on MSNBC talking about the Fed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msTHy...layer_embedded

Imo, Spitzer is wrong. The Fed runs a counterfeiting racket, the government runs a the ponzi scheme.

[Iron_Pig]

Didnt spitzer use taxpayer money to pay for his hooker girl friend.

[SMCengineer]

Didnt spitzer use taxpayer money to pay for his hooker girl friend.

No, you're thinking of Mark Sanford.

[SMCengineer]

Update:
HR 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act - 279 Co-sponsors
S 604: "Sunshine Act" (senate companion bill) - 20 co-sponsors

10 more reps for a veto proof majority!

[gixxerboy1]

Didnt spitzer use taxpayer money to pay for his hooker girl friend.

no spitzer just had a hooker g/f

[SMCengineer]

no spitzer just had a hooker g/f

Bingo! Haha

[HILLBILLY]

Update:
HR 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act - 279 Co-sponsors
S 604: "Sunshine Act" (senate companion bill) - 20 co-sponsors

10 more reps for a veto proof majority!

Too bad it will never happen, the Fed will make sure of that with payoffs as usual.

-JJ-

[gigabitbucket]

This all happened in the 40's and it will happen again,
If you do not learn from history , you will tend to repeat it.

make sure you all thank Barney franks , he should be hung!

I minored in history

[IM708]

Update:
HR 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act - 279 Co-sponsors
S 604: "Sunshine Act" (senate companion bill) - 20 co-sponsors

10 more reps for a veto proof majority!

make that 281

[IM708]

make that 281

282

[SMCengineer]

282

Nice! You're on top of this more I am, haha! Only 7 more to go for a veto proof majority!

[IM708]

Bump 303

[TITANIUM]

284

[TITANIUM]

284

[RyanRoss]

Is this bill to kill the fed??!!?!?!! Oh I hope.

[inheritmylife]

Nah, just to make it auditable.

[IM708]

Is this bill to kill the fed??!!?!?!! Oh I hope.

Yes, if you read the fine print on the bill it states that "this bill warrants the US government the right to 'kill the fed' via missles".