You May Have Gotten Away This Time, Bernanke….

It occurs to me that nobody has posted anything about the Senate's defeat of the "Audit the Fed" proposal the other day, so consider this more or less an open thread.

Speaking only for myself, I like the idea, but I have managed to keep my excitement in check because a) I believe a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve Bank will never happen on this planet; b) as a separation-of-powers and rules-of-order enthusiast, I'm secretly happy even when something I like gets blocked on procedural grounds; and c) the idea of the audit has been buzzing around the bonnet of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) for 26 years, so if the idea ever does come to fruition (see a) above), we can afford to be patient.

Meanwhile, it's entertaining to see the Fed's priesthood in full self-protective mode. While reading deputy chairman Donald Kohn's explanation of why the Fed shouldn't answer to Congress, I enjoyed a laugh that was every bit as manly, bitter and ironic as Charlton Heston's guffaws at the 5:05-5:22 mark here.