Posted by Adam de Angeli on 07/28/09 11:20 AM Last updated 07/28/09 04:37 AM   [Newer: We Are Winning, Again!] [Older: Bunning drops Senate bid]

You must see Bernanke's PBS Newshour special defending the Fed to really appreciate how far we have come.

Throughout the 85 minutes, Bernanke stutters and stammers. His voice shakes, even reciting the standard lines to the standard questions. His eyes are wide, like a deer in headlights.

One year ago, the thought of tackling the money trust, the most powerful gang in country, was a laugh.

Now Dr. Paul's bill to audit the Fed without restraint has a majority of co-sponsors in the House and a fifth of the Senate and growing. The Fed's hiring professional lobbyists in a fight for its life.

At FreedomFest, and broadcast on CSPAN2, top Fed and IMF economists debated Tom Woods and Gene Epstein over whether we should have any central bank--and even the opposition conceded that the Fed needed drastic reform.

But it was the sight of Ben Bernanke, quavering before the audience, when I knew we were going to win this fight. We're growing bigger and better organized every day, while the banksters' last desperate attempts to control the damage yield nothing.

The Fed is unable to retaliate against criticism already.  Dr. Paul's upcoming book, End the Fed, will be a hard-swung brick to its face. The Congress know we're not going to settle for some feeble "compromise" legislation; that we're fully aware that the Fed by its nature represents the banking business's interests and not those of the public. They know we're going to hold every Congressman's feet to the fire on this issue and never let go.

Watch the interview and see the last gnashings of a dying beast.

Posted 07/28/09 11:29 AM MRoCkEd Cheshire, CT

Yes, Chief of Counterfeiting. We are going to look at your books.

Posted 07/28/09 12:08 PM Wiseburn Manhattan Beach, CA

Digg it here: http://digg.com/business_finance/Seeking_More_Sunshine_From_the_Federal _Reserve

Posted 07/28/09 12:17 PM matthiasj Greenville, KY

Thank you for that post Adam. It sent a chill up my spin.

Posted 07/28/09 12:22 PM RobPepe Pennsburg, PA

Thanks Adam. I don't think I can stomach 85 minutes of CFR member Jim Lehrer cuddling CFR puppet Ben Bernanke..Here is a short clip regarding HR1207 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlSMcnXqmDk

Posted 07/28/09 12:36 PM JimMN Eden Prairie, MN

You can hear the fear in his voice. Yes, he's probably just nervous, but I prefer to think it's fear that we won't swallow his lies and distortions.

Posted 07/28/09 12:39 PM AuthenticAuthor Canutillo, TX

Watch the videos, and prepare for your B.S. alarm to sound off repeatedly. I suspect the rest of the audience was not impressed. First video: Loved the Criminology Professor's question. GET RID OF THE MORAL HAZARD!! Who says Criminology is a dead subject? ;)

Posted 07/28/09 1:10 PM Orville Brettman Huntley, IL

Let's just get-er-done; but always remember that 'Pride rideth before a fall'. I too believe we will prevail, but we must never let up for a single instant.

Posted 07/28/09 2:36 PM DrReaper Palm Springs, CA

None of the questions ask about the off the book transactions. I think the people asking the questions really don't understand the fed and the government are responsible for the problem. The small business is suffering for the big business at this point. They are making up the rules as they go and the politicians don’t even read the bills anymore. We are all in a state of limbo waiting for the crash that will come after their friends are all shored up.

Posted 07/28/09 2:54 PM take your stand Carlsbad, CA

Now if that isn't a motivational post, I don't know what is. This isn't about pride. This is about pressing onward with conviction. Ron's been swinging his brick for a long time. It's time we all put a brick in the bag.

Posted 07/28/09 3:04 PM Ken from CT Milford, CT

Someone like Tom Woods or Ron Paul should do a counterpoint video in response to the PBS appearance. Bernanke is misrepresenting if not flat out lying during this whole meeting. He looks very uncomfortable to me and a response to this is needed. He got my blood boiling when he said that he answers to the American people. Just how is that so Mr. Bernanke?

Posted 07/28/09 4:20 PM AuthenticAuthor Canutillo, TX

Indeed, some of the best questions came in the first video. The rest were utterly devoid of skepticism, such as the woman who asked, "How do you sleep at night?". Here's an answer: Who the hell cares?! What turned me off the most was Ben's unchallenged take on "independence" and HR1207. I said before that I doubted the audience was impressed with him; I also doubt the audience's understanding of the Fed in the first place. Referring to the O.P's "We are Winning" title; I can't say for sure that the war will be won by simply looking at a propaganda piece (just watch the ridiculous Odyssey analogy for yourself). Combined with the public's deep ignorance of Economics (and money) propaganda is one of the Fed's greatest weapons, no matter how stupid it seems to the likes of us.

Posted 07/28/09 6:16 PM mookrit Melbourne, Australia

I hope Ron Paul will be taking advice from Tom Woods and Robert P. Murphy when writing his "End the Fed" book. We want it to be the best possible product, outlining the strongest possible case against the Fed!

Posted 07/28/09 7:01 PM JamesMoore Zephyrhills, FL

I think that I enjoyed your "brick to the face" metaphor a little too much. Great post, but we're dealing with an exceedingly powerful wounded beast fighting for its life. This will probably get ugly and we'd best be prepared for a scorched-earth pitched battle.

Posted 07/29/09 12:51 AM roserty Orem, UT

I don't think that the average person would think that Bernake was nervous. In fact, he looked like he knew what he was talking about, which is dangerous since he was spouting the same lies that got us into this mess. Clearly, some of the audience members understood that the Fed isn't all about fairness and saving the little guy, but those who didn't know anything about the Fed might have gone away thinking that Bernanke knew what he was doing even if they themselves didn't understand it.

Posted 07/29/09 01:37 AM ticsani Boca Raton, FL

It was brutal to watch the Pablum Broadcasting System (PBS) its guest the Fed chairman secretly bludgeon the U.S. public financially. And come off as though they want to help everyone besides being emphatic about maintaining the Fed's secretive status quo for years to come. Wow! What a comedy of errors...truely sad.

Posted 07/29/09 01:50 AM Joey Batz Brooklyn, NY

I just finished Part 2, and I don't think Bernanke was nervous or scared, nor would I look at this and think "we are winning". To be honest, this whole thing came off as a sham. So far (as of Part 2), he's been spoon fed pro-Fed questions that make the Federal Reserve look like the Second Coming. "Oh, what are you going to do to stop unemployment" and questions like that. I've spent more time learning about Greek mythology than I have learning about economics in this video. Doublespeak has been permeating my headphones the entire time. He talks about how the Federal Reserve has a "Strong Dollar" policy to keep our dollar strong (aptly named, I guess), but neglects the fact that only the Fed can create inflation by printing the money and that the dollar's value has fallen about 95% since the creation of the Fed. I love the answer he gave to the Indian guy about how he will keep the dollar strong despite the growing national debt. His answer was somewhere along the lines of "We will make the economy stronger so that the dollar will be strong". Of course, why didn't anyone else just think of "making the economy stronger"? He avoided the question by talking in vague overviews (he's done it throughout the entire thing so far, but it was really noticeable in this question). To be honest, if I didn't know anything about economics (and I really don't know much about it, honestly), I'd watch this video and think that Bernanke was our savior. No hard hitting questions about the implications of the Fed devaluing the dollar, or how these firms became "too big to fail", or why the Fed considers the loss of 95% of the dollar's value to be "low inflation". Hell, not anything about the fact that the Federal Reserve Inspector General doesn't know about that $2 trillion that disappeared off the Fed's balance sheet or something (from that video posted on her a few weeks ago with her answering questions from Congress), or the immorality that the Fed makes these "investments" (read: wild bets) in firms using other people's money, etc. Like I said, this just seems to be pre-planned questions designed to provoke easy responses from Bernanke about how the Fed is the only thing keeping the Earth from flying off its orbit (aren't the audience members interviewed beforehand and their questions screened?). I've only watched the first two parts. Does it get better later on? Does somebody really ever get SOMETHING out of Bernanke in this video?

Posted 07/29/09 01:57 AM Joey Batz Brooklyn, NY

I just finished Part 2, and I don't think Bernanke was nervous or scared, nor would I look at this and think "we are winning". To be honest, this whole thing came off as a sham. So far (as of Part 2), he's been spoon fed pro-Fed questions that make the Federal Reserve look like the Second Coming. "Oh, what are you going to do to stop unemployment" and questions like that. I've spent more time learning about Greek mythology than I have learning about economics in this video. Doublespeak has been permeating my headphones the entire time. He talks about how the Federal Reserve has a "Strong Dollar" policy to keep our dollar strong (aptly named, I guess), but neglects the fact that only the Fed can create inflation by printing the money and that the dollar's value has fallen about 95% since the creation of the Fed. I love the answer he gave to the Indian guy about how he will keep the dollar strong despite the growing national debt. His answer was somewhere along the lines of "We will make the economy stronger so that the dollar will be strong". Of course, why didn't anyone else just think of "making the economy stronger"? He avoided the question by talking in vague overviews (he's done it throughout the entire thing so far, but it was really noticeable in this question). To be honest, if I didn't know anything about economics (and I really don't know much about it, honestly), I'd watch this video and think that Bernanke was our savior. No hard hitting questions about the implications of the Fed devaluing the dollar, or how these firms became "too big to fail", or why the Fed considers the loss of 95% of the dollar's value to be "low inflation". Hell, not anything about the fact that the Federal Reserve Inspector General doesn't know about that $2 trillion that disappeared off the Fed's balance sheet or something (from that video posted on her a few weeks ago with her answering questions from Congress), or the immorality that the Fed makes these "investments" (read: wild bets) in firms using other people's money, etc. Like I said, this just seems to be pre-planned questions designed to provoke easy responses from Bernanke about how the Fed is the only thing keeping the Earth from flying off its orbit (aren't the audience members interviewed beforehand and their questions screened?). I've only watched the first two parts. Does it get better later on? Does somebody really ever get SOMETHING out of Bernanke in this video?

Posted 07/29/09 07:26 AM JayGreene Clearwater, FL

This fight will ONLY be won when the average American pulls thier head out of the sand to breathe in a new climate of Constitutional Opinion...

Posted 07/29/09 07:55 AM ssurowiec Aberdeen, NJ

The Fed might be a dying beast, but just remember, when it does die, it's taking the entire US with it. There's simply no way around it at this point, if the Fed goes the entire US economy is crashing in a bad way and that's just going to give them the ammo to say 'see what happens with out us around'. That's something that should be prepared for because it will happen.

Posted 07/29/09 10:40 AM sweetliberty San Rafael, CA

I'm only a few minutes into the first segment, and I'm getting nauseated. An "independent government agency" is a contradiction in terms. And Bernanke answers to the American People? LAUGH OUT LOUD.

Posted 07/29/09 11:07 AM MichaelBarry Sebring, FL

The total collapse of the US economy brought about by the exposure of the Fed as a total fraud will be devestating. It will be used as the catalyst for the statists to implement a command economy in which all of the peasants are slaves supporting extravagant life styles of government officials. There will be only a brief period in which to act with determination to avoid this outcome. Violence may be required. However, in the interim if we are successful in broadly educating the American people so that enough are knowledgable of the truth it is possible that statist efforts to initiate a slave state may fail. Liberty may be victorious merely by having huge numbers refusing to obey.

Posted 07/29/09 12:24 PM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

I think more gradualism will be involved. Dr. Paul is not advocating eliminating the FED in one stroke. Instead he wants to introduce competing currencies. That will affect Legal Tender Laws allowing for contracts to be denominated in other than FRN's. Long term I believe that saner heads will prevail.