United Liberty

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner has been using what I would call “scare tactics” to improve Ben Bernanke’s renomination as the head of the Federal Reserve.

From Politico:

Asked about possible market reaction to a defeat, Geithner said: “I think the markets would view that as a very troubling thing to the economy as a whole. But, as I said, I don’t think they should be uncertain. I think they should be confident because we are very confident he will be reconfirmed.”

He appears confident, as he should be, that Bernanke will get the votes needed for confirmation. But what is troubling about this is that there is a very subtle threat that the markets will react negatively if he is not confirmed.

What the American public should be concerned about is the fact that a central bank has monopoly power over money in the United States. Besides that, they are private and unaccountable to the American public. Yet we still see people arguing that they should not even be audited! Unfortunately for Geithner and the Fed-backers, they can’t threaten that the market will react negatively to what is uncovered in the Fed audit. That would just prove the audit should have occurred; the market needs correction from the intervention of the Federal Reserve.

Unfortunately we are at a point where there is so much intervention into our economy by the Federal Reserve and our government that the public can be swayed (if needed) that keeping the status quo will allow for stability. We would rather see a man become renominated than rejected because the market won’t respond negatively.

If we want long-term health in our economy and true stability, we should question the Federal Reserves, it’s purpose, it’s ability to fulfill that purpose, and whether we would be better off without it. All the attention will be on Bernanke during this time, but it is of utmost importance that the attention be focused on the Fed as a whole instead of just one man.