Liberty Maven

That pill is his bill to audit the Federal Reserve, HR1207. Yesterday on Freedom Watch he revealed that the bill now has 209 cosponsors and just 9 more are needed to attain a House majority. What was more interesting though were his own feelings regarding HR1207′s chances in the Senate and beyond.

While focusing on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of an audit by a government organization for a quasi-government entity like the Fed I missed the hidden benefits of such a bill getting this kind of support.

First, having a bill like this attain 209 cosponsors is a victory in itself. As Paul points out during his Freedom Watch segment he believes it is due to the support and activism among the people that have pushed so many lawmakers to cosponsor the legislation.

This means that it is now a positive move politically to support an audit of the Federal Reserve. Ron Paul’s next book, “End the Fed (preorder it)“, could not be arriving in bookstores at a better time. It is due to be released in September of 2009.

Next, the Federal Reserve itself is acknowledging it has a public relations problem by hiring a PR liaison to lawmakers seeking more transparency.

From Bloomberg:

Linda Robertson currently handles government, community and public affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and headed the Washington lobbying office of Enron Corp., the energy trading company that collapsed in 2002 after an accounting scandal. She was also an adviser to all three of the Clinton administration’s Treasury secretaries.

Robertson would help the Fed manage relations with lawmakers seeking greater oversight of a central bank that has used emergency powers to prevent Wall Street’s demise. While she wasn’t tied to Enron’s fraud, her association with the firm may raise questions, analysts said.

So let’s get this straight. The Fed wants to hire someone to help with their image and the person they choose is someone with ties to Enron? This idiotic move only confirms that the Federal Reserve should be audited.

These are the people with the puppet and purse strings of the U.S. economy. Maybe it’s just me but it seems that an organization in the Fed’s position would want to distance itself from Enron as much as possible. Did someone say, “Hey, I know, let’s hire someone to solve our PR problem that has a PR problem of her own!”

Then again this decision does coincide with Keynesian principles. “Hey, I know, let’s use more credit to solve our economic problems caused by too much credit!”

At least they are being consistent.

Pondering the Federal Reserve always leaves me with a Fed-ache. At this point, only Ron Paul has the medicine to ease my pain. HR1207 is that medicine.

UPDATE: WordNetDaily is now reporting that HR1207 is now up to 213 cosponsors leaving only 5 more for a House Majority.