The Federal Reserve began releasing quarterly financial results on Monday, in an effort to increase transparency at a time many Republicans are demanding more accountability from the U.S. central bank. The Fed previously published financial statements annually. Its decision to report more frequently responds to demands for more openness and provides a reminder to taxpayers that it has been a significant source of income for the government. Its release of unaudited first- and second-quarter results detailed a sharp rise to $46.447 billion in its payments to the Treasury, from $40.456 billion in the first six months of 2011. "This enhancement to the (Fed) Board's previous financial reporting procedures will provide greater transparency by communicating financial information on a more frequent basis and in greater detail," the central bank said. – Reuters

Dominant Social Theme: Finally, the Fed takes steps to address critics and create a more efficient and honest facility.

Free-Market Analysis: We are to believe that the Federal Reserve's openness marks a great step forward in … what? The problem with the Fed is that it is a monopoly central bank printing money-from-nothing and thus causing ruinous booms and terrible busts.

We're living through one such bust now. How is the Fed's transparency as regards any of this going to help with the fundamental problem of Money Power?

That's the kind of question Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) might be asking, as he is behind the "audit the Fed" movement.

But the questionable "transparency" the Fed is offering us is nothing but a ruse, a feeble palliative designed to provide talking points for those who want to dodge the real issue: Modern monopoly central banking doesn't work, can't work, won't ever work. Central planning of any kind doesn't work. Nobody is capable of predicting the future with any kind of accuracy. It's why the Soviet Union fell apart.

Chances of a thorough audit are fairly slim, anyway. A bill to get it done would have to pass the Senate and then President Barack Obama would have to sign it. Here's some more from the Reuters article:

Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney has sided with Tea Party conservatives in his party who want the Fed's activities audited annually.

This request echoes a campaign led by Texas Representative Ron Paul, who fired up the party's base with his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and it has become part of Republicans' 2012 election platform.

Romney is not bound to implement the platform and he has been vague about what his call for an audit might entail.

The Fed's financial results are already audited every year, and its operations have been regularly reviewed by the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency.

But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved a bill last month that would expose monetary policy decisions to audit, if it became law.

We have contradictory information here on several levels. First of all, it emerges that while Romney and others want a regular Fed "audit" there are questions as to what actually constitutes an audit and what it would show.

The article explains, in fact, there already IS an audit of Fed books that takes place annually. Obviously, this isn't enough. What Ron Paul desires, along with others in the House, is an audit that would reveal how the Fed makes decisions.

This could be revealed, at least partially, by finding out about individual funding lines. A lot of the Fed's numbers are revealed in aggregate and it is unclear why monies have been assigned where they have.

Then there is this from a CNN article on the issue, "Audit the Fed? Bernanke fights back against Ron Paul" … "Current law also protects the Federal Reserve from audits that reveal transactions with foreign central banks and governments, the reserves of its member banks and discussions among its employees about these issues."

So Fed audits, by law, simply cannot be thorough. And if there were any doubt about it, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has gone on record with HIS feelings. His quote has been reported endlessly, in fact, because it is a strong one. He called Ron Paul's ideas a "nightmare scenario."

That's because any attempt to figure out WHY Fed officials are making the decisions they are is, from Bernanke's perspective, inevitably an effort to interfere politically.

This is some gig! Fed top guns get to disperse tens of trillions of dollars without any oversight because any investigation would have a chilling effect on the decision-making process, introducing potential bias.

If you believe this, dear reader, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we'd like to sell you. Further information about the REAL Fed agenda may be found in these two articles:

Fed Lies Unravel … Bank Board Gave US$ 4 Trillion in Loans to Its Own Institutions

Auditing the Fed Is a Sideshow: Who Audits the Auditors?

Leaving aside the obvious cronyism, the Fed is a central bank, and central bankers never know how much money to print because there is no controlling market discipline – no monetary or industrial competition to provide them with an appropriate guideline.

Modern monopoly central banks actually provide a gigantic funding stream to the dynastic families that are seemingly trying to create world government. There is no economic soundness behind central banking. They cause nothing but ruin and heartache over time.

Reuters, of course, has considerable sympathy for central banking, in large part because it is apparently yet another controlled facility of the power elite. The writers call the Fed "a political football in an election year" and thus provide us with the perspective that any actions taken to examine the Fed are motivated by business as usual.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Ron Paul's attempts to audit the Fed spring from his conviction that it should be abolished. And not just the Fed but all central banks. Even now the reckless actions of those who run them are dooming the world to another great depression.

In fact, that's just the point, unfortunately. The powers-that-be no doubt WANT a disaster. They're trying to implement world government and before something like a global currency can be installed maximum chaos needs to be created.

That's one reason why we've questioned the idea of audits. First of all, we don't believe any REAL kind of audit would ever be applied to the Fed or any other central bank. Secondly, we don't need an audit to understand what monopoly fiat central banks are doing or have done.

We just need to shut 'em down.