It’s awfully strange for a man to consider himself a champion of the poor and then advocate policies that disproportionally harm them. Last week, President Obama did just that by demonstrating how little he understands about the fundamentals of the economy. After positioning himself as an opponent of tax cuts for the rich, the President proceeded to praise the Federal Reserve’s decision to create hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air.

In a previous article, I discussed the push to audit the Federal Reserve System. Since that time, Congress has made major progress in bringing about a transparent central bank. Now, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1207) has more than 300 co-sponsors in the House, and efforts have been made to gut the legislation and protect the central bank from any significant audit of its practices.

The Obama administration’s recent statements about China might hinder Obama’s desire to improve the United States’ relations with all nations of the world. While some Chinese students at Washington University are not attuned to the discourse between China and the United States, others understand the controversy but are optimistic about the future.