The Chairman of the Federal Reserve is taking another turn in the Congressional ‘Hot Seat of Phony Moral Outrage’ today.  This is the same Hot Seat which has occupied others, such as the CEOs of the Big Three, and Roger Clemens.  Like those others, he shouldn’t have been there.

From the report on FoxNews:

Ben Bernanke, seeking Senate approval for a second term as head of the Federal Reserve, faced withering criticism Thursday from a GOP senator who called him a “moral hazard” and said he should be sent back to Princeton University.

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who is not seeking re-election next year, made it clear that he would join a growing chorus of lawmakers looking to stop Bernanke’s nomination dead in its tracks. 

A “moral hazard”?  That’s quite an entertaining line, coming from a US Senator…

But the moral “blemishes” of the typical US Senator need not concern us, the same as the actions of the Federal Reserve need not be concerning Congress today.  Like Roger Clemens and the Big Three CEOs, Congress has no business dealing with Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve.  They should not be holding hearings to decide the appropriateness of the actions of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

“Why?”, you ask.  “His organization took trillions from the US Treasury and won’t tell us what they did with it!  We have every right to know what they’re doing, where the money is going, and why it is going there!”

While I agree with that statement, and share in the underlying anger felt by the average citizen over this further armed robbery of the taxpayer, this still does not change the fact that Bernanke has no business being in front of Congress today.

From Article 1, Sec. 8 of the US Constitution:

[The Congress shall have power] To coin money, regulate the value thereof;

Notice the words used in this enumerated power.  “Coin” money.  “Regulate the value”.  Both of these are the current duties of the Federal Reserve!  They can print money.  They can set its value by virtue of their control over interest rates.  And what a stellar job the Federal Reserve has done with managing our money so far…

  

But the blame doesn’t need to be laid at the feet of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.  The blame lies on the shoulders of the American people.

Congress has been engaged in a dereliction of their Constitutional duty for almost 100 years, they have given control of the purse strings, the source of all power, over to the central bank rather than perform their designated chore.  In return, they’ve been given virtually unlimited sums of money with which to buy votes.

But it is still the fault of the American people for letting them get away with this, for accepting all the vote buying goodies we could lay our grubby hands on, and then begging for more like Arthur Denton at the dentist.  If Congress has abdicated its Constitutional responsibilities, then we have abdicated our responsibilities as free men (and women) living as citizens in this great Republic as well.  We should have put a stop to this long ago.

We, the voting citizens, should be on that Hot Seat.  That way we wouldn’t have to listen to one crook zing another on C-Span today.

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