So for all you folks who were thinking Gonzalez was actually
going to do anything to oust the federal reserve from its thrown,
read carefully (comments in brackets are those of Linda Thompson):

AP  10/14/1993
By DAVE SKIDMORE
Associated Press Writer

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's
message to lawmakers who'd like to change the way his agency
operates is simple: if it ain't broke don't fix it.
   The central bank chairman warned lawmakers who want to put the
Fed under tighter political control that such change "would run the
risk of real damage to the institution's effectiveness from
unintended, adverse consequences."
   "It would be a mistake to legislate structural reform when, as in
this case, compelling evidence of the need for change is lacking,"
Greenspan said.
   It was a point underscored again and again, both by Federal
Reserve supporters at a hearing Wednesday of the House Banking
Committee and by private economists in interviews.
   "If you're going tamper, there ought to be a good practical
reason," said Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
   Economist David Jones of Aubrey G. Lanston & Co. in New York, a
specialist in the Federal Reserve, defended the Fed's performance in
the six years since Greenspan took over as chairman of its board.
   It effectively countered the after-shocks of the 1987 stock
market crash, he said, preventing a repeat of 1929 when a stock
market plunge led to the Depression.
   And it has reduced short-term interest rates to 30-year lows,
helping consumers and businesses reduce their indebtedness and
restoring the profitability of the once-shaky commercial banking
industry, he said.
   "The Fed has done an outstanding job, particularly recently," he
said.
   But would-be Federal Reserve reformers counter that it is not
monetary policy itself that is broken but the system for formulating
it.
   "How can someone argue that the system is not broken when the Fed
conducts its business in secret, refuses to keep minutes, and fails
to inform Congress and the public of its decisions until weeks after
they are carried out?" asked said Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., who is
sponsoring legislation to revamp it.
   Both Hamilton and Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, D-Texas, who has
sponsored separate reform legislation, object to the selection of
the Fed's 12 regional bank presidents by bank-dominated local
boards.
   Hamilton would eliminate the presidents' power in setting
monetary policy, leaving it solely within the power of the
Washington-based Federal Reserve Board, whose members are selected
by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

    [This would INCREASE the power of the federal reserve, not
    provide any solution to the problem -- LT]

   Gonzalez, chairman of the banking committee, would require the
same selection procedure for the regional presidents, but allow them
to keep their monetary powers.

     [Sounds like he has proposed to leave the system as it is. Read
     that sentence twice.  The use of the word "but" instead of
     "and" makes it seem as if there is some conflicting thought.
     Substitute the word "and" for "but."  Gonzalez has simply
     proposed it stay the same!  More chicanery. -- LT]


   Both bills also would force more timely public release of Federal
Reserve policy actions and provide greater congressional oversight
of the Fed's budget.

     [With "oversight" like this, why bother?? -- LT]

   Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, senior Republican on the banking panel,
said Greenspan might be better served accepting modest reforms now,
when people are generally happy with monetary policy, rather than

     ["People are generally happy with monetary policy"???!  We
      clearly are NOT getting the point across to these congress
      people or they are ignoring everyone!  GET BUSY!!  -- LT]


waiting until the Fed is embroiled in controversy and reformers are
likely to go overboard.

   "The issue isn't populist; it's prudential. In a democracy,
arrogance always gets its comeuppance. ... A reform in time saves
nine," said Leach.

   [Somebody clue Leach into the fact that the United States of
   America is *NOT* a "democracy."   And while you're at it, send
   everyone of these people a copy of the Constitution! -- LT]

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