Monday, November 10, 2008
Congress / Kotz / Politics Where's Your $2 Trillion? The Feds Refuse to Say
Posted by Pete Kotz on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Remember when Congress and the president pushed through that $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street? Remember how they told us over and over that they would safeguard your money? That everything would be "transparent"? That we'd likely get much of it back, maybe even make a profit?
Sadly, it seems they're not so eager to talk to us now. Writes the Bloomberg news service today: "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."
That's right, the Fed has already kicked over $2 trillion of your money, and they refuse to say who got it, what they put as collateral, or any other details of deals. Could it be one last round of sweetheart deals for friends of the administration? Remember, these are the guys who wanted to pay over-market rates to buy back the worthless home mortgages purchased by Wall Street. So Bloomberg is suing the government to open up its books. Writes the press agency:
Fed 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. The market is very nervous and very thin.''
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