23 November, 2009, 10:15
Protesters gathered in New York on Sunday demanding accountability and transparency of the Federal Reserve Bank and joining what seems to be a nation-wide movement that calls for an audit of the Federal Reserve System.
Those present at the rally expressed concerns about the secrecy with which the Bank operates.
“I don’t know what they’re doing and that’s the whole point. They can be doing their job very well. They could be doing it very poorly. We just don’t know and we have the right to know,” said Anthony Lombard at the Campaign for Liberty.
Flocking in Wall Street, the protestors vehemently urged for legislation that would facilitate independent auditing of the Bank, a process it has never undergone before.
The 96-year old Bank is one of the most powerful players in the US financial system, tasked with overseeing interest rates, currency and the allocation of bank bailout funds. But while all Americans are subject to meticulous tax scrutiny, the Bank seems to remain exempt from such a practice.
“They’re in secrecy, just like JFK and Eisenhower said. You have to be aware of these secret societies,” one onlooker noted, referring to President John F. Kennedy’s admonition of the dangers of secret societies during a 1961 address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association.
Following the tumult of the past year, which wreaked havoc on the financial stability of the US, Americans are now attempting to assert their prerogative for reliability and accountability.
Distrust for the system is thus deepening. “Just because it has a pretty little logo that looks real patriotic with an eagle, and it calls itself the Federal Reserve, really means nothing. We don’t control it. We have nothing to do with it,” says Jason Hulhan, a former banker.
