Bailout: Bernanke Blunder and Betrayal

It is now evident that those of us who supported the bailout of greedy financial services companies were betrayed -along with the millions of Americans who opposed the bailout. Maybe the opponents were correct - these creeps cannot be trusted.

As reported by Bloomberg News, Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose:

(originally)...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.

As AIG receives its second infusion of public money, bringing the public commitment to $150 billion, fed chief Bernanke and his cohorts at Treasury refuse to divulge the amounts provided to other key financial services companies that were operated by thieves masquerading as prominent wall street financiers for so many years.

Bloomberg is upping the ante with its lawsuit deigned to throw sunlight on the debacle, Bloomberg suing Fed to disclose bailout details

"The Fed has lent $1.5 trillion to banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., through programs such as its discount window, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility. Collateral is an asset pledged to a lender in the event that a loan payment isn't made.

"The Fed made the loans under 11 programs in response to the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The total doesn't include an additional $700 billion approved by Congress in a bailout package.

 

Comments

[nonheroicvet]

I will temporarily suspend my campaign for justice for Scott Jensen to observe that our country may benefit in this bailout effort if the result is a healthy financial market comprised of companies that are small enough to fail. This can be accomplished by using our equity stake and regulatory power to sell spun off companies to real investors and maybe create real markets. The funny money crowd may choke on this idea (as well as a substantial number of congress creatures) but this may be the best chance we have to break the bonds of the too big to fail cartel. Although the odds of success are close to zero, I think it is worth a shot.

[Julie]

You might also be interested in the tax windfall granted to American banks that may be worth as much as $140 billion. It may not even be legal, but what the financial industry wants, the financial industry apparently gets, and the American taxpayer takes the hit. And more companies are created that are "too big to fail."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902155_4.html

[ex-pat cheesehead]

My question is why do the people who advocated for the deregulation which caused the problems in the first place get to be the ones tasked with fixing said problems?

Seems to me to be time for some new blood making those decisions. Jan 21 cannot come soon enough.