My Letter to National Review re: The Real "Secret Bad Guy"

From: patrickbarron@msn.com
To: letters@nationalreview.com
Subject: The Real "Secret Bad Guy"
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 16:18:08 -0400


Re: Occupy Salem by Kevin D. Williamson

I very much enjoyed reading "Occupy Salem" by Kevin D. Williamson in the Oct 31st edition of National Review. The source of American's frustration, as manifested in the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, can be debated endlessly, and Mr. Williamson certainly has hit upon some excellent causes; namely, America's fleeting industrial superiority as the only unscathed combatant at the end of WWII. But, like Mr. Williamson, I would advise the OWS types that the real "secret bad guy" is not behind the scene but right in front of them as chairman of the most corrupt organization on the planet. I refer, of course, to Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. "Most corrupt organization on the planet"? You bet. The Fed acts in complete secrecy and for very good reason. It prints mountains of money and distributes it throughout the world to the detriment of the American people. Bloomberg News' Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealed that the Fed had lent hundreds of millions of dollars to foreign banks, following the financial crisis in 2008. It refuses to allow an independent audit of its operations. It refuses an independent audit of its gold reserves. It enforces the federal government's perverse regulations that force banks to lend to those who are not creditworthy--the infamous Community Reinvestment Act. It bails out some banks and lets others go under, for no known reason (although we know that there always is a reason and it usually is political). And I haven't even touched upon its role in promoting unsustainable and capital destroying bubbles through its control of money and the interest rate. So, open your eyes, you OWS types, and picket the real bad guy--the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Patrick Barron