Fed Refuses to Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion in Lending

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If it make you USA citizens feel any better, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has also completely trashed its balance sheet since the ‘credit crisis’ first reared its head. We now have billions (read worthless, marked to market) in Australian Dollar (AUD) denominated bank bills and other ‘securities’, collateralising the AUD.

The recent devaluation of the AUD was a direct result of this. The RBA offloaded most of its foreign exchange for the abovementioned securities back in late '07 and early '08 and was unable to support its liability in the recent selloff. There was effectively a run on the central bank.

Now the RBA has, like the Federal Reserve, massively expanded its balance sheet utilising the ‘Deposits of overseas institutions’ and I believe a good deal of cash fresh off the printing presses. I think the AUD sinks or swims with the USD.

22

Look,

Any entity, be it a microorganism, a human, a business, or a government, will fight for its very existence as long as it can an use any means to stay alive. Our US Government is in just such a fight for existence right now. It mostly does this by trying to remain legitimate in the eyes of the constituents. We are at the point that the members that benefit most, the politicians and other government employees, will say anything for as long as we let them get away with it.

Read America’s Great Depression by Murray N. Rothbard, available free here for an astounding account of what the highest elected officials will do to try to control the economic, fiscal, and monetary policies of our country. Most of us have vague notions of what led to the depression and why it dragged out. Rothbard makes crystal clear points about why’s and wherefore’s and it all comes down to government intervention.

The most startling news from this book is that we are in a very similar replay of the events that created the depression. The names and dates and number of zero’s have changed, but the story is strikingly similar. It takes a strong motivation to get through this book, but every few pages or so you will find your mind connecting the dots directly between then and now.

Read the quote about Benjamin Strong on page 157 and see if you don’t hear an echo of the Fed saying they can’t tell us who is getting bailout money for our own good. It’s damning.

We’re in for a long bad experience ahead. I won’t say more. Read the book. Comments invited to david.fahrney@gmail.com

Cheers! We’re going to need them…

23

To make it easy for all of you I have copied the letter I wrote to my represenatives so you can send it on to yours. (And not to be picky, but this isn’t democracy. We are a republic that is rapidly becoming a dictatorship with Ben as our fearless leader. Didn’t Castro have a beard too?)

Dear __________,
It is clearly apparent that the Fed is continuing to withhold and hide information regarding the use of the $700B TARP funds, to say nothing of the other Trillions of dollars of taxpayer money they have committed. They have cited "trade secrets" as a reason for not issuing them under the Freedom of Information Act.
The records should be subpoenaed by congress and if not delivered promptly the Chairman of the Fed should be held in Contempt of Congress and the Federal Reserve Act should be immediately abolished and the Fed disbanded.
As your constituent I am asking, no, demanding that these records be promptly released to the public.
Sincerely,

 

 

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Edit: This post violated the site posting rules and guidelines and was removed by cmartenson.

No personal attacks allowed. They diminish both the poster and the site.

Site posting rules & guidelines.

 

 

 

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That is the next step once you get a letter denying your FOIA request. Bloomberg would have to file its appeal of the denial with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A federal judge would rule on whether the denial of the request was legitimate. Unfortunately, this type of litigation usually takes time.

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I hope we don’t read that these moron’s got bonuses themselves!

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I am still trying to get a copy of the TARP legislation or some credible link where I can download it. I have made 3 requests from representatives but they just send some info on their stance but nothing else. Does anyone know where I can get it or is it a trade secret too?

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I’m no accountant. But have worked in an accounting office before and this looks very much like a cost accounting budget.

However, I would still need some assistance to understand what is printed here.

Can you summarize this balance sheet for me?

Updated:

I have looked again at that balance and I guess it makes me look like a Brit basher. The only firm that has any sort of connection to London is Maiden Lane as they effect the LIBOR and that is tenuous.

Another is AIG, but that is a well-known international group of course.

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As a Brit who is well disposed towards the American (non-political - except Ron Paul) people I worry a lot at the woy American is heading.

I am reminded of the old Roman saying: "Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius" which, roughly translated, reads "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad".

The American politicians are destroying the American people. Their empire streatches to around 750 bases in 130 different countries, and they are creating a mess of debts that the ordinary American citizen is going to have to deal with at the expense of seeing their children succeed.

And, apart from all the bases, it is exactly the same in England

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Thanks cwixom for the sample letter, which I am sending to my senators and congressman. I will also sent a letter to the editor of my loca newspaper.

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ampers: you’re absolutely right.

And to add insult to injury, our (American) government can now wiretap and search us without warrant, arrest and detain us without charge, and imprison and torture us while labeling us "enemy combatants." There is something fundamentally flawed with this mentality. I understand the spy cams in public places are running rampant in Britain now??? That will probably be implemented here soon, if it hasn’t already been done covertly.

Those who believe Obama is going to undo all of this just don’t get it. It’s unfortunate that many believe Obama stands for civil liberties and limited military action. I hope it’s because by some fluke they haven’t heard of Ron Paul. Anyone who has heard the man speak can at least acknowledge that he has an intelligence and an understanding about him that is utterly absent from the impassioned, emotional rhetoric of many of the statists.

The parallels between the fall of the Roman Empire and the peak (and fall??) of the American Empire are disturbingly plentiful.

Mike

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We do dumb things like consume way too much, but as Chris noted the rule of law in this country is what makes this place better than others to live in. Bypassing the rules is almost always the downfall of an individual or organization or even a whole country.

I’ve been involved with a lot of smaller scale public works projects supported by local, state, and federal funds, and the oversight to makes sure taxpayer money is spent properly is usually open, thorough, and honest in my experience. First there has to be an engineered feasibility study. Then, during construction, every bit of work is reviewed by the owner, the engineer, and a funding agency representive before the contractor is paid a penny.

This is is sharp contrast to what the Fed seems to be doing now. Where’s the independent oversight?

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@ joe jackson

"I am still trying to get a copy of the TARP legislation"

wasn’t that up on http://wikileaks.org/ ?

OP: This is appalling, these happenings are blow after blow to the "open society model" that the US is supposed to be a beacon of.

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I you missed Glenn Greenwald (Salon) interview on Bill Moyers Journal, you can view it here.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12122008/watch.html
Ties in with Chris’ recent comment about whether we’re a nation of laws, and either everybody abides by them, or nobody does. Outstanding!

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Emma Coleman Johnson (Georgetown Law) talked about the bailout on Moyers Journal last night:
Worth seeing. Replay here: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12122008/watch2.html

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you dont really want to know …but bush is having a fire sale on anything with one btu on it

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we are not a nation that functions under the rule of law …that is a naive notion foisted on the unsuspecting sheeple.

the reality is we are a nation that functions under the law of rules…subtle but important distinction.

it is easily understood if you remember "he who has the gold makes the rules"

if you wish to dispute these events i suggest you consider the police force at their disposal recently well trained in counter insurgency in an urban environment…surge anyone

welcome to the shock doctrine nation …get used to it or leave

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Actually I’m a little surprised at the outrage about the Fed not disclosing to whom they loaned the money. I believe that the Crash Course details the fact that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation. As such it is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act – otherwise we all could find out the secret formula for coke.

I think it would be more useful to use this event to help people understand that monetary policy and the money supply is under the control of a private corporation. That would be a useful discussion.

Outrage in these times is rapidly loosing its utility. Clarity is a much more potent human experience.

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While the following comments and links may get you down, you may find it helpful knowing that more people will have more time for this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8h4Thlc-J4&NR=1 ) in the near future, and you may want to listen to it as you read the comments below…

Chris said:

"The important principle here is that democracy cannot operate under the cover of darkness. If every emergency, no matter how slight, results in the immediate suspension of our right to know, then one might reasonably question whether it is a right at all and whether this is a democracy."

Like Kennedy before(The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper … )

"Even today, there is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it…"

It seems we are no longer protecting what we thought we were protecting… "Democracy?" You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-b7RmmMJeo)

Chris said:
"Either we are a nation of laws or we are not. It is no small point that our rule of law is one of the most essential components of our social contract and which separates us from other countries where I would not willingly choose to live."

Like Hernando De Soto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto_(economist)) before(http://fora.tv/2008/10/20/Naomi_Klein_and_Joseph_Stiglitz_on_Economic_Power):

"It isn’t your fundamentals in economics that have collapsed. It isn’t that you lack the amount of money. It isn’t that you lack the technology. It isn’t that you lack the entrepreneurial spirit. It isn’t that you lack all those things that Sam Huntington said you have up north that we don’t down south.
It is essentially that your legal system that creates trust among one another has collapsed… All of the sudden you started creating the banana republic world…"

Ampers said: "I am reminded of the old Roman saying: ‘Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius’ which, roughly translated, reads, Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

How mad? How soon? What level of destruction? According to Gerald Celente (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Celente ), very, weeks, and total! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkEI1gPMjIc (part 1 of 4)

This is going to be a show to watch from a distant shore…

Updated:

This is disturbing: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/3725083/Shocking-pictures-of-a-policeman-on-fire-after-a-petrol-bomb-was-thrown-at-him-in-Greece.html

Greek Riots: The Veneer of Civilization is Very Thin Indeed

Will Americans resort to such barbarism?

 

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I think you misread it (or else Chris has edited it, since this comment). The article says: " A trade secret is an unpatented business process".