The Federal Reserve--the central bank of the United States--is the most powerful peacetime bureaucracy in the federal government. Under the chairmanship of Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), the Fed achieved near mythical status for its part in managing the economy, and Greenspan was lauded as a genius. Few seemed to notice or care that Fed officials operated secretly with almost no public accountability. There was a courageous exception to this lack of oversight, however: Henry B. Gonzalez (D-TX)--chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services (banking) Committee.
In...
The Federal Reserve--the central bank of the United States--is the most powerful peacetime bureaucracy in the federal government. Under the chairma...