The article on TPMDC about the White House opposing the provision in the financial reform bill to audit the Fed has me concerned.

Now I realize that there are probably many pros and cons to auditing the Fed. It seems a no brainer that gazillions being spent w/o oversight is a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, I do believe there are things we don't all need to know about, or that by being scrutinized in the light of day could be injurious to our country. I don't know if the Fed fits into this category or not.

I know that our Congress has a way of mucking up nearly everything they touch, and I also suspect that monetary policy is probably an area where true expertise (lacking by probably ALL members of Congress) is important, and that playing politics with monetary policy is probably a bad thing for the whole world.

But the line that jumped out at me was raising the ire of powerful people.

We have the ability to vote our elected leaders out if they piss us off.  We don't know who these powerful people are, but they undoubtedly have political agendas of their own, and they apparently have an impact on the goings on at the Fed.

Are we better off having people we don't know, and have absolutely no control over influencing the Fed, or the inept politicians that we do know and have a small amount control over?

I suspect we need to audit the "powerful people."  I'd like to know who they are, what their agenda is, and how much influence over monetary policy they have. I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that the answers will scare the beejeepers out of us, but I think we need to know.