Elon Musk wants to audit the Fed. Is that a good idea?

Elon Musk is fixated on auditing the Federal Reserve, America’s central bank.

Elon Musk is keen on auditing the Federal Reserve, the independent agency that makes critical decisions on interest rates that reverberate throughout the US economy. Musk, the world’s richest man who is also overseeing a mass restructuring of the federal government, isn’t referring to the Fed’s $6.8 trillion balance sheet. The Fed’s finances and operations are already audited extensively by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and an independent accounting firm. Musk is talking about the Fed’s monetary policy decisions. But auditing the Fed’s monetary policy raises questions on the importance of the central bank’s independence, especially as President Donald Trump shakes up the federal bureaucracy. Asked if the Fed should be audited at an annual gathering of conservatives Thursday, the Tesla CEO said, “Yeah, sure” without elaborating. It was the second time this month that Musk expressed support for the idea. As head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Musk has led efforts to gain access to key government data. This month, a federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing a Treasury Department payment system. Musk’s calls to scrutinize the Fed comes after Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that’s expected to weaken the central bank’s control over big banks. The executive order gives his political appointees unprecedented power over independent regulators, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, though it specifically excluded the Fed’s monetary policy.