http://thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/619
The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve are spending trillions — and Congress is letting them get away with the biggest theft in history...
"The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress have become increasingly irrelevant," Reich opined in a January 7, 1999 piece for USA Today. "In case you hadn't noticed," Reich continued, "America's domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve Board. Their decisions about interest rates are determining how many of us have jobs and how many of us get a raise."
Reich, who is now an adviser to President-elect Obama, went on:
Congress is out of this loop. Every so often, some senators or House members politely ask Greenspan to visit and talk about the economy. He obliges by riding up to the Hill and muttering convoluted sentences that no two people interpret in quite the same way. Then he goes back down to the Fed and runs the country.
America's foreign policy, meanwhile, is now being run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with some coaching from the Treasury Department.
Reich's description of things nearly a decade ago certainly describes the situation in Washington today. While Congress voted on $700 billion for bailouts, the Fed is spinning out more than 10 times that amount out of thin air. If Congress, the press, and the public can be kept preoccupied arguing over a few billions, while the Fed is making decisions on and taking action on trillions, then Congress has indeed become irrelevant. And so has the American public — except for when it comes time to pay the tab.
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