Byron Dorgan: “I agree with that. One could find important uses for it, or perhaps give it back to the taxpayers. But this is a…”

“I agree with that. One could find important uses for it, or perhaps give it back to the taxpayers. But this is a circumstance where the Federal Reserve Board, according to the GAO investigation that was done, has a rainy day fund. Can you imagine having a rainy day fund in a climate where it never rains? The Federal Reserve Board can never lose money. It will never lose money, and has never lost money. They accumulated a rainy day fund of some $3.7 billion. It is more now. Here you have this last dinosaur on America's hill--the Federal Reserve Board--that operates in secret behind closed doors that creates its own rainy day fund. The GAO says they don't need it. They shouldn't have it. It ought to be given back. Guess what. A couple of years after that study was complete, has that rainy day fund been divested by the Fed, and given back to the taxpayers? The answer is no. Of course not. Why? Because this Congress usually won't touch the Fed with a 10-foot pole. There is this language about monetary policy that prevents almost anybody from even talking about it. That is one of the reasons I wanted to talk today about what happens next Tuesday. Our economy, in my judgment, is in some difficulty. It has gone down dramatically. We have a new President who will be sworn into office, and may well inherit an economy that is slowing down, and could even be heading towards a recession, at least in part, because the Fed has decided they want to slow down the economy.”