Sarah Palin and the Federal Reserve

I find Sarah Palin's recent criticism of the Federal Reserve to be both interesting and indicative.  Interesting, in that it doesn't really seem to be the kind of subject that she would take on just to rouse the public's anger.  Indeed, most people have little or no idea of what the Federal Reserve is or does;  to the contrary, it is like Churchill's description of the Soviet Union--"a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma." 

It seems then that this is an issue of serious concern to her for principled reasons, or at least, the principles of her handlers, if there are such (and I don't know that there are).  Assuming that principle comes in here, her criticism would seem then to be indicative of what distinguishes her, and Tea Partiers like her, from other conservatives and establishment types in general.  Which is to say, a strongly libertarian critique of the US banking system and the control of the US currency exerted by the Federal Reserve.  It is the same critique that Congressman Ron Paul has been advocating for decades now, and that his son Rand, the newly elected Tea Party Senator from Kentucky, will almost surely also be pushing.

The ongoing shenanigans by the Federal Reserve--and the Wall Street banking community behind the Fed, along with their bought-off politicians in Washington from both political parties--came to the forefront during the recent Crash of 2008, which in turn led to the bank bailout called TARP of the Bush/Obama administrations, so hated by the Tea Partiers.  As a result, the smoldering distrust of the Federal Reserve has been fanned into a raging fire, and this is now coming into view with the new Republican House.  If Congressman Ron Paul becomes chairman of the relevant House committee that deals with the Fed, it is suddenly going to get VERY interesting.

Many liberals think that the Tea party is just a movement of home-spun, downhome, free-market, laissez-faire, business and wealth-loving conservatives.  Not so.  The Tea Party is, at least in part, made up of principled libertarians, who have been at odds with the financial/Wall Street establishment for a very long time, and would like nothing better than to see all of its misdeeds exposed and punished. 

If you want to read more about this libertarian view of the Federal Reserve, apparently agreed to by Sarah Palin, you can read this lengthy article by Murray Rothbard, one of the godfathers of the libertarian movement, on the history of the Federal Reserve Bank.

For a long time, the Fed has basically stiffed the Congress when it asked for information about its dealings.  I think that perhaps they are going to be more cooperative in the very near future.