The Ominous Secrecy of the Federal Reserve

Chapter 10 of Robert Prechter's book Conquer the Crash makes a good case that the monetary policies of the Greenspan Fed exacerbated the economic ills we labor under today. Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas is one of the few in Congress who "get it" that there are threats to our national security that emanate from Washington D.C., and IMO the Fed is one of them.

This article from DailyPaul.com reports that Paul had introduced H.R. 1207, which would have required a full audit of the Federal Reserve and its activities, which crosses international lines. It also reports that another rep, Democrat Mel Watt of North Carolina who'd been bought and paid for by large corporations like American Express, Wachovia, Bank of America and the American Bankers Association, gutted Paul's bill.

What are the ties between the Fed and these companies, and what are the fears that drove them to buy off Watt to keep the Fed's secrets under wraps?

There's something rotten in Denmark, as the saying went.