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Who knew there are so many euphemisms for keeping the public's interests secret? If Judd Gregg is to be believed, "protect national security" and "preserve sovereign immunity" now have to be buttressed by "confidence," as in confidential deliberations to insure the "independence" of the Federal Reserve.
God forbid that the representatives of the people, assembled in Congress, might investigate how the Federal Reserve Bank manages our money and to whom it doles it out.
At least, that's what Gregg is reported to have said on the floor of the Senate in discussing the Vitter Amendment.
The Senate shot down with a 37-62 vote an amendment by Sen David Vitter (R-LA) that would have allowed the GAO to examine monetary policy decisions at the Fed.
"Senator Vitter's amendment, unfortunately, has as its basic purposes the disassembling of that independence," said Sen Judd Gregg (R-NH), on the Senate floor today. "It would have the Congress the authority through the GAO to go in and investigate what happens with the open market community."
He warned the proposed amendment could have impeded the Fed's decision-making process.
"It would influence their ability to make decisions in the sense that they would be concerned about Congress coming in and investigating," Gregg said. "It would open up activities which, if they are not done in some level of confidence, inevitably end up disrupting the markets."
The "open market community" is not open to inspection. So, what exactly does "open" mean?
"Independent," apparently no longer just means "un-regulated." Now it also means un-observed. Who knew that "out of sight, out of mind" is a desideratum, not just a mental lapse? Of course, given the culture of "designed to fail," we could have anticipated it.
Why does Gregg feel compelled to continue spouting these gratuitous idiocies?
