Last Week’s Forum at Cato Institute

By Zachary Nickerson

Last Wednesday, the CATO Institute held a book forum on “Renewing the Search for a Monetary Constitution: Reforming Government’s Role in the Monetary System” with one of the editors of the book, Professor Larry White. The topic broadly discussed was whether the United States should adopt a monetary constitution and if so, what would be the expected route of implementation and ultimate outcome of such an adoption and what a monetary constitution might look like.

Throughout the forum, the cause and effect of the Federal Reserve’s policies were discussed, and it was agreed that they have been ineffective in regulating banks and actually disastrous to our economy. The idea of a monetary constitution setting the boundaries of the Fed’s policies or replacing it altogether was discussed. At this point during the discussion, the Audit the Fed movement was mentioned, as was Dr. Paul’s book, End the Fed.

This book forum was a great example of open discussion on viable alternatives to the Federal Reserve, and that despite what the Fed loving media has been propagating, the American people are open to the idea of an economy free from the Fed’s regulations.

The forum also explored the ideas of and alternatives to government-backed fiat currency and what the options and plausible avenues to implementation could be.

The best statement of the day made regarding the Fed was that in regards to its ‘independence’, it is only supposed to be independent from the executive branch, but that it cannot be completely independent of Congress since Congress created the Federal Reserve and certainly has the right to inquire into the Fed’s policies. This is why passing Audit the Fed is so crucial.