Reform the Federal Reserve | Myrtle Beach Sun News

Today, like yesteryear, the economic state of the American economy is pretty much totally controlled by the Federal Reserve Board, the chairperson of which is appointed by the sitting president of the United States and approved by the Senate of the United States by winning a majority vote.

Raising or lowering the interest rate of the Federal Reserve – what the banks have to pay for the money they lend to you – is by vote of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board. These seven members are selected from the 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Board, who serve 14-year terms.

The legislative and/or administrative branches of the federal government have absolutely no way of removing a member once they are confirmed by the Senate. In other words, the federal government has absolutely no control over what the Federal Reserve does and/or does not do regarding raising and/or lowering the interest rates for the many banks in this country. The federal government has absolutely no control of the Federal Reserve in influencing much of the rest of the national economy, either!

In sum, “We, the People” are simply the victims of just about whatever the Federal Reserve Board wants to do with and/or to the entire American economy!

This, then, wants to be dramatically changed!

To make it democratic, I propose some very significant changes in how the Federal Reserve Board operates.

First, today the Federal Reserve holds almost all of its meetings in private. The minutes of these meetings are by law made public only after five years have passed. There can be no rational or logical explanation for this!

Any meeting regarding the economy of this great nation and its citizens, should be open to the various branches of the news media – and therefore to the public – at the time of its occurrence.

Secondly, any ruling by the Federal Reserve Board – such as increasing or decreasing the interest rates for banks – should be subject to being overruled by a vote of two-thirds of each of the two houses of Congress, and subsequently signed by the president of the United States.

Finally, to hold the members of the Federal Reserve Board accountable to the American public, it must be possible to remove a member before their rather lengthy term has expired! Therefore, I suggest that they may be impeached and convicted in exactly the same way the president of the United States.

Your personal finances, and our national economy, are both much to important for us not to have this limited control.

The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.