Deception and Abuse at the Fed: Henry B. Gonzalez Battles Alan Greenspan's Bank

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)-chairm…