- The IMF -- where Paul Wolfowitz went after carrying
out his assignment at the Pentagon -- is the Rothschild instrument to
enforce its interests. They are auditing the Fed to make sure that
no policy and no action of the Fed or the US government will result in
any repudiation of debt owed to the Rothshild's or in any way reduce the
expected harvest of assets that the international bankers are expecting
from the US collapse.
-
- The IMF and the Federal Reserve should both be shown
the door by the next president. The Federal Reserve needs to be shut down
immediately -- but by the United States, not by international financiers.
-
- Dick Eastman
- Yakima,Washington
-
-
- The German news group Spiegel is running this headline:
-
-
- The International Monetary Fund Is About
To Audit The US Financial System
- The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve
- By Gabor Steingart in Washington
-
- Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman
of the United States Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation
by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing
its power.
-
- The United States Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, seems
as much a part of America as Coca-Cola or Pizza Hut. But at least one difference
has become apparent in recent days. While the pizza chain and soft-drink
maker are likely to expand their scope of influence in the age of globalization,
the US central bank is finding that its power is shrinking.
-
- No Fed chief in US history has been forced to submit
to the kind of humiliation that Ben Bernanke is facing.
-
- This is partly down to circumstances. Inflation is going
up and up, and this year's average will likely top 4 percent. But this
time Mr. Dollar is also Mr. Powerless. He can raise interest rates in the
fall, or he can pray, which would probably be the better choice. At least
prayer would not prevent the US economy from growing, a highly likely outcome
if interest rates go up.
-
- After years of growth, the United States is now on the
brink of a recession, one that is more likely to be deepened than softened
by a tight money policy. Investments will automatically become more expensive,
consumer spending will be curbed and economic growth will slow down, immediately
affecting unemployment figures and wages.
-
- The textbook conclusion is that this will stabilize the
value of money, because no one will dare demand higher wages or higher
prices. But the macroeconomics textbooks are no longer worth much in the
age of globalization. Modern inflation is driven by the global scarcity
of resources. Nowadays purchasing power exceeds purchasing opportunity.
Most of all, there is not enough oil, and too few raw materials and food
products. These increasingly scarce resources are becoming the focus of
disputes among many people and billions of dollars are at stake.
-
- This is why the price of a barrel of crude oil (159 liters)
has increased from $25 (¤16) in 2002 to $135 (¤87) in 2008.
And it is also why the price of corn has tripled in the same time period,
while that of copper has almost quintupled.
-
- If the inflation introduced in the United States is excluded,
a small miracle is revealed, namely something approaching price stability.
Adjusted for inflation, prices are in fact rising by only 2.3 percent.
If this were the extent of it, the Fed chief could simply blink like an
old watchdog and go back to sleep. Instead, he is barking loudly, which
is his job. But he has lost his bite, because the Fed's interest rate policy
can do nothing about the scarcity of goods.
-
- Embarrassing Investigation
-
- Some of Bernanke's personal adversaries are also contributing
significantly to his current humiliation. In the past, the chairman of
the Federal Reserve was a pope among the priests of the financial elite.
But unlike his predecessor Alan Greenspan, Bernanke is finding that his
policies are not universally accepted, even within the Fed.
-
- The last seven decisions reached by the Federal Open
Market Committee, which sets monetary policy, were accompanied by a growing
number of dissenting votes. Bernanke's critics say that with his policy
of cheap money -- in other words, recurring rate reductions -- he in fact
helped fuel the inflation problem he is now trying to combat.
-
- Another problem for Mr. Dollar is that it will be several
months before his actions take effect. Officials with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) have informed Bernanke about a plan that would have
been unheard-of in the past: a general examination of the US financial
system. The IMF's board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial
Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is to be carried out in the United States.
It is nothing less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system.
-
- As part of the assessment, the Fed, the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), the major investment banks, mortgage banks and
hedge funds will be asked to hand over confidential documents to the IMF
team. They will be required to answer the questions they are asked during
interviews. Their databases will be subjected to so-called stress tests
-- worst-case scenarios designed to simulate the broader effects of failures
of other major financial institutions or a continuing decline of the dollar.
-
- Under its bylaws, the IMF is charged with the supervision
of the international monetary system. Roughly two-thirds of IMF members
-- but never the United States -- have already endured this painful procedure.
-
- For seven years, US President George W. Bush refused
to allow the IMF to conduct its assessment. Even now, he has only given
the IMF board his consent under one important condition. The review can
begin in Bush's last year in office, but it may not be completed until
he has left the White House. This is bad news for the Fed chairman.
-
- When the final report on the risks of the US financial
system is released in 2010 -- and it is likely to cause a stir internationally
-- only one of the people in positions of responsiblity today will still
be in office: Ben Bernanke.
-
- Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
-
- http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,562291,00.html
-
-
- "Officials with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) have informed Bernanke about a plan that would have been unheard-of
in the past: a general examination of the US financial system. The IMF's
board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial Sector Assessment
Program (FSAP) is to be carried out in the United States. It is nothing
less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system.
-
- As part of the assessment, the Fed, the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), the major investment banks, mortgage banks and
hedge funds will be asked to hand over confidential documents to the IMF
team. They will be required to answer the questions they are asked during
interviews. Their databases will be subjected to so-called stress tests
-- worst-case scenarios designed to simulate the broader effects of failures
of other major financial institutions or a continuing decline of the dollar.
"
-
- This has the potential to unleash a flood of embarrassing
questions, although I'd sure like to see an independent audit of things
like, oh, Fort Knox. I've always wondered what the definition of 'deep
storage' meant for gold, like "Does that mean it hasn't actually been
mined yet?" I'm sure it doesn't, but with all the discussion about
'swaps' and such, a nice neat report in regular accounting language rather
that govspeak would be worth reading. Deeply.
-
- The IMF coming to audit the US should be huge headlines
all over the US financial press, yet we learn of it midway through a Spiegel
report.
-
- Meantime, Australia's "The Age" Business section
also reports that "IMF finally knocks on Uncle Sam's Door" Has
the US financial press been snookered (again), or is it strange you may
read about this here first before it hits the MSM? that would explain
some of the recent 'circling of the wagons' by the US. Things like the
"CFTC focuses on swaps, says 'Enron loophole' already closed"
and the "SEC proposed reduced reliance of credit raters".
-
- Add to that a UK Telegraph report that the Bush administration
received up to $400 million for action against Iran, and you have circled
wagons and a huge distraction at the ready to draw US citizen attention
away from the state of the domestic financial situation. Another 'shock
and odd' setup.
-
- Oh, and there's a "Report: Iranian gets death for
Israel spying."
|
