This is too much fun. See John Crudele's piece in the New York Post. A thesis from an article written by moi, along with Eric Englund, was presented to Ben Bernake, by Ron Paul, at a House Financial Committee Hearing.

From John:

What's clear from answers to questions posed by Rep. Ron Paul, (R.-Texas) is that new Fed chief Bernanke either doesn't know much about the role of the working group or preferred not to discuss the matter.

And, I think, it's time we found out a little more about an organization that could afford some Wall Street firms an opportunity to reap massive profits at the expense of ordinary investors.

Here's some of the exchange that occurred between Bernanke and Rep. Paul last Thursday at the House Financial Committee hearings.

Rep. Paul: Good afternoon, Chairman Bernanke. I have a question dealing with the Working Group on Financial Markets. I want to learn more about that group and exactly what authority they have and what they do.

Could you tell me, as a member of the group, how often they meet and how often they have actions? And have they done something recently? And are there reports sent out by this particular group?

Bernanke: Yes, congressman. The president's working group was convened by the president, I believe, after the 1987 stock market crash. It meets irregularly. I would guess about four or five times a year. But I'm not exactly sure.

And its primary function is advisory, to prepare reports. I mentioned earlier that we've been asked to prepare a report on the terrorism risk insurance. So that's what we generally do.

Rep. Paul: In the media you'll find articles that will claim, at least, that it's a lot more than advisory.

You know, if there is a stock market crash, that you literally have a lot of authority, you know, to impose restrictions. And we're talking about many trillions of dollars slushing around in all the financial markets. And this involves the Treasury and, of course, the Fed as well as the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission.)

And the reason this came to my attention was just recently there was an article that actually made a charge that out of this group came a position that interfered with the price of General Motors stock.

Have you read that? Or do you know anything about that?

Bernanke: No sir. I don't.

Rep. Paul: But back to the issue of meeting. You tell me it meets irregularly. But are there minutes kept, or are there reports made on this group?

Bernanke: I believe there are records kept by the staff. There are staff, mostly from Treasury, but also from other agencies.

Rep. Paul: And they would be available to us in the committee?

Bernanke: I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know.

It doesn't say what article, and it doesn't name the authors, but there's only one one that fits, which is why Lew linked to the Post piece on LewRockwell.com. It's this one from me and Eric called "Market Engineering, GM, and Plunge Protection." Eric and I heavily speculate that the government is propping up the price of General Motors stock. This is very obvious. Ron Paul reads LRC daily. And he knows what questions to ask. Congratulations, Eric - he is one of the most hardcore, principled guys I know.