To the editor:

Last year, Congress ordered the Government Accountability Office to audit the Federal Reserve. The final GAO report released last summer revealed that between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve created $16 trillion (not billion, trillion!) in virtual money and secretly lent it to American and European banks to prop up their reserves.

These banks have paid back only a small portion of the zero-interest loans. The Federal Reserve is essentially a private institution controlled by private banks. Six of the nine governors of the Federal Reserve of New York are elected by private banks. Why are private banks allowed to make public policy concerning our economy?