Fed In the Headlights

Disturbing C-Span footage of Rep. Alan Grayson questioning Elizabeth A. Coleman, Inspector General of the Federal Reserve, about whether her office has conducted any investigations of the Fed’s decision not to save Lehmann Brothers or about the $1tn+ increase in the Fed’s balance-sheet since last September. The website of the Fed’s Inspector General describes the office’s duties thus:

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducts independent and objective audits, inspections, evaluations, investigations, and other reviews related to programs and operations of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board). OIG efforts promote integrity, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; help prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse; and strengthen accountability to the Congress and the public. The OIG’s work assists the Board in managing risk and in achieving its overall mission to foster the stability, integrity, and efficiency of the nation’s monetary, financial, and payment systems so as to promote optimal macroeconomic performance.

Her testimony doesn’t really reassure us that her office is living up to its mission. Maybe Elizabeth Coleman needs to be replaced with Elizabeth Warren?

The Bloomberg article Grayson refers to is this one.

Hat-tip to Doug Henwood on lbo-talk for the YouTube link.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlxBeAvsB8&hl=en&fs=1]

No Responses to “Fed In the Headlights”

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  Anonymous says:

  May 27, 2009 at 7:41 pm

  I saw this a couple weeks ago, it’s horrifying. But you won’t see it in the corporate media.

  The way I interpret this is “We’re the Fed, we print money and distribute it to the masters of the universe and it’s none of your business. We printed a bunch of it in the last 9-18 months, but don’t worry about a couple extra trillion greenbacks making the rest of them worthless, we know what we’re doing.”