Federal Reserve defies Congress by refusing to disclose how bailout money is being spent!
NEW YORK - November 10, 2008 - The
Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of
emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank
is accepting as collateral.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
“The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's a big problem,” said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston-based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. “In a liquid market, this wouldn't matter, but we're not in one. The market is very nervous and very thin.”
Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit November 7 seeking to force disclosure.
The Fed made the loans under terms of 11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
“It's your money; it's not the Fed's money,” said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. “Of course there should be transparency.”
Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith declined to comment on the loans or the Bloomberg lawsuit. Treasury spokeswoman Michele Davis didn't respond to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.
Ed. Note: In other words, the looting of the public treasury is now running at full speed! Historically, the last act of any government, as it devolves into illegitimacy, is to loot the people.
