Cliff Kincaid: FEDERAL RESERVE SCANDAL BIGGER THAN A.C.O.R.N.

"For the first time, a hearing is being held on Rep. Ron Paul’s Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1207) by the House Committee on Financial Services. Grass-roots pressure has been credited with forcing the hearing into what has happened to trillions of dollars supposedly spent by the Federal Reserve on the stabilization of the financial system.

"In prepared testimony, Thomas E. Woods, Jr. of the Ludwig von Mises Institute offers his strong support for the bill and declares, '…if our monetary system were really as strong, robust, and beyond criticism as its cheerleaders claim, why does it need to rely so heavily on public ignorance? How can it be a sound banking system that depends on keeping the public in the dark about the condition of its financial institutions?'

"As the unprecedented hearing was taking shape, however, Rep. Frank put a statement on the website of the House Committee on Financial Services, which he chairs, going into detail about Republican funding of ACORN.

"He declared, 'ACORN was the recipient of funding throughout the Bush administration, with $14.2 million going from the Bush administration to ACORN through HUD. And I can attest that this was an entirely Executive Branch decision: No congressional action in any way, shape or form required that any of these funds go to ACORN as opposed to other organization [sic]. And I do not remember, during the period from 2001 to 2006 when the Republicans controlled the White House, HUD, the House and the Senate, and ACORN was receiving millions of dollars, any Republican objection to this.'”

I'm an equal opportunity offender. When Republicans mess up, I will take them to the woodshed too. ACORN did get money under when Bush, who I never voted for, including his father, was in office. But Democrats were quiet about it up to now. Why?

But: "While Grayson is a liberal Democrat, he decided to co-sponsor the bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Ron Paul, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, which requires an audit of the Federal Reserve System, including its Board of Governors, and the Federal Reserve banks.

"Paul had announced on July 15 that all 178 Republican members of the House had signed on as co-sponsors of his Federal Reserve Transparency Act."

Well done.