In your editorial Feb. 5, you ridiculed those who wish to exert a little more control over the Federal Reserve System. It appears you would have us believe the FRS has been divinely anointed and the Congress must not meddle, nor can men be allowed to interfere.
The Federal Reserve System was created by Congress. It is a mere agent of Congress. Congress has merely delegated a little of its authority to this private corporate bank.Are you suggesting the creators and stockholders of a corporation should not act as a watchdog once a new corporate entity has been created?
Congress and the entire federal establishment are in turn mere agents of the 50 states and the people. Do not the people have a right to examine and change policies involving that which they created?
The Federal Reserve System has become a Frankenstein monster wherein it dictates policy and creates currency and credit without effective control by its creators.
Since there has never been a full outside audit of the Federal Reserve Banks, neither Congress nor the people know for sure how much money and credit the Fed spends into circulation each year.
Rep. Henry Gonzales, D-Texas, chairman of the House Banking Committee, has good reason to be spearheading, at last, a full audit of the FRS. Our former Rep. Howard Nielsen co-sponsored such an attempt several years ago. The 1992 platform of the Utah Republican Party calls for such an audit by our own attorney general.
How much of the $4 trillion-plus national debt is owned by the FRS, and on which are we are paying some $300 billion in interest? Some estimates go as high as 80 percent. Last year, the Fed only turned back to the Treasury some $22 billion in "excess" interest it collected. Who gets to keep the other $200 billion or so paid into the Fed?
Yes, let's keep the FRS, but let us stop paying interest on the nation's own credit and keep that interest in the taxpayer's pocket.
Joseph Stumph
Salt Lake City