From Spiegel.de we read “The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve” by Gabor Steingart, translated from the German by Christopher Sultan.

The article starts out with the fact that governments around the world have been creating more and more money, sometimes increasing their money supplies by 50% or more a year.

And thus they write, “Nowadays, purchasing power exceeds purchasing opportunity.

Most of all, there is not enough oil, and too few raw materials and food products” when compared to the sheer, staggering tonnage of money available with which to buy the aforesaid oil, raw materials and food products.

“This is why,” they write, “the price of a barrel of crude oil (159 liters) has increased from $25 (€16) in 2002 to $135 (€87) in 2008. And it is also why the price of corn has tripled in the same time period, while that of copper has almost quintupled.”

Let me get this straight: If you take out inflation from the rise in prices, then prices did not rise? No kidding? This is too, too much!

Mr. Steingart goes on, “Adjusted for inflation, prices are in fact rising by only 2.3 percent.” I can’t help myself! Prices are rising “only” 2.3% above the rate of inflation, after you take out inflation! Unbelievable! He doesn’t say what the 2.3% is, if it isn’t inflation, which is kind of funny.

“Officials with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have informed Bernanke about a plan that would have been unheard-of in the past: a general examination of the US financial system. The IMF’s board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is to be carried out in the United States. It is nothing less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system.”

The reason given is that “Under its bylaws, the IMF is charged with the supervision of the international monetary system.”

To illustrate the fairness of its request, the article notes, “Roughly two-thirds of IMF members – but never the United States – have already endured this painful procedure.”

Painful? Americans? Americans putting up with painful? Don’t make me laugh!

Apparently, they are so messed up economically that the IMF, an organization of Leftists, socialists, Keynesian-befuddled, fiat-money yahoos and (seemingly) various mental defectives, thinks it is necessary to find out what is wrong with us!

As if Bush, Cheney, the Treasury, the Congress, or the Fed would allow anyone, especially foreigners, to go snooping around and finding evidence of their staggering mismanagement, their unfathomable stupidities, and their unbelievable frauds and corruptions! Too, too much!

Hell, nobody has ever been allowed to look at, much less audit, America’s gold (held by the Federal Reserve) since the ’50s, or the Fed’s books, ever!

But I am supposed to think that, “As part of the assessment, the Fed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the major investment banks, mortgage banks and hedge funds will be asked to hand over confidential documents to the IMF team.

They will be required to answer the questions they are asked during interviews. Their databases will be subjected to so-called stress tests – worst-case scenarios designed to simulate the broader effects of failures of other major financial institutions or a continuing decline of the dollar.”

First we get the outrage of Treasury Secretary Paulson wanting the Federal Reserve to be given huge, new, awesomely sweeping powers to intrude anywhere it wants, and actually manipulate private financial firms (and your money), and now this?

We’re doomed! Ugh.

Until next time,

The Mogambo Guru