The Fed Audit you didn't hear about! A Bernie Sanders-Ron Paul Collabo
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tru_m.a.c
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(shout out to SOHH for this one)
The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."
Among the investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. "No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bailout a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president," Sanders said.
The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.
For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed's emergency lending programs.
In another disturbing finding, the GAO said that on Sept. 19, 2008, William Dudley, who is now the New York Fed president, was granted a waiver to let him keep investments in AIG and General Electric at the same time AIG and GE were given bailout funds. One reason the Fed did not make Dudley sell his holdings, according to the audit, was that it might have created the appearance of a conflict of interest.
To Sanders, the conclusion is simple. "No one who works for a firm receiving direct financial assistance from the Fed should be allowed to sit on the Fed's board of directors or be employed by the Fed," he said.
The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.
The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.
For instance, William C. Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who was a senior official there in 2008, owned stock of American International Group before the Fed bailed out the giant insurance firm. The GAO report did not mention him by name, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who spearheaded the audit, identified Dudley as the unnamed official described in the report.
Lawyers at the New York Fed allowed Dudley to continue owning the shares while working on issues relating to the bailout. They concluded that for him to sell the shares immediately after the central bank bailed out the firm would be more ethically problematic than simply holding onto them and selling at a later date.
Dudley "held shares in these companies as part of his personal portfolio that predated his service at the New York Fed," a spokesman for the central bank said. "A waiver was granted allowing him to hold these shares based in part on the judgement that had he sold these shares immediately after the interventions it would have the appearance of a conflict."
The GAO report did not condemn the Fed's actions, it simply illuminated them. Dudley has subsequently sold all the shares on dates agreed to with the bank's ethics officers, the spokesman said.
Change you can believe in lol...........
The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."
Among the investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. "No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bailout a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president," Sanders said.
The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.
For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed's emergency lending programs.
In another disturbing finding, the GAO said that on Sept. 19, 2008, William Dudley, who is now the New York Fed president, was granted a waiver to let him keep investments in AIG and General Electric at the same time AIG and GE were given bailout funds. One reason the Fed did not make Dudley sell his holdings, according to the audit, was that it might have created the appearance of a conflict of interest.
To Sanders, the conclusion is simple. "No one who works for a firm receiving direct financial assistance from the Fed should be allowed to sit on the Fed's board of directors or be employed by the Fed," he said.
The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.
The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.
For instance, William C. Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who was a senior official there in 2008, owned stock of American International Group before the Fed bailed out the giant insurance firm. The GAO report did not mention him by name, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who spearheaded the audit, identified Dudley as the unnamed official described in the report.
Lawyers at the New York Fed allowed Dudley to continue owning the shares while working on issues relating to the bailout. They concluded that for him to sell the shares immediately after the central bank bailed out the firm would be more ethically problematic than simply holding onto them and selling at a later date.
Dudley "held shares in these companies as part of his personal portfolio that predated his service at the New York Fed," a spokesman for the central bank said. "A waiver was granted allowing him to hold these shares based in part on the judgement that had he sold these shares immediately after the interventions it would have the appearance of a conflict."
The GAO report did not condemn the Fed's actions, it simply illuminated them. Dudley has subsequently sold all the shares on dates agreed to with the bank's ethics officers, the spokesman said.
Change you can believe in lol...........
Comments
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*waits for riots to begin*
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NAAAH SON! I don't believe it. ? ain't that brazen to think they could get away with this in the new millennium.
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King Erauno wrote: »*waits for riots to begin*
Madden will re-do their game engine before Americans stand up for what they believe in -
Idi Amin Dada wrote: »NAAAH SON! I don't believe it. ? ain't that brazen to think they could get away with this in the new millennium.
Got the ? straight off the OG Bernie Sanders website
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9005bc62-9fc2-4fb9-b4cf-4bfa53e68a46
Bout to hit up Schumer right now and see whats really good. My attorney general bust his guns so we bout to ride out. -
smh...
I'm speechless....
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -
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King Erauno wrote: »*waits for riots to begin*
there will be no riots I can bet on that. -
damn..............
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Any more doubts that this government is run by International Bankers and not "We the people". And the Congress knows..............
Wow...just wow. And people still talk about politics like it is legit. Arguing over which devil they gonna vote for. -
Fed is unilaterally propping up the West and in a lot of respects the global economy by providing liquidity to the global economy, and QE3 is on the way.
Inflation of dollar based commodities is the problem that accompanies all this, but that's more a matter of speculation. -
My bigger issue with the fed is that it isn't attaching meaningful conditions to its 0%-interest loans to finance giants. They should have taken a page from the IMF and insist on SAPs.
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Man...? this country...
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This right here is the problem. The same thing happened with the bailout. Little to no conditions were attached to compel the banks to loan with either bailout, which was how the whole bailout was sold to the public in the first place.
As for the 16 trillion, I'm not even surprised. With Bernanke as the current Chairman and Greenspan the former, their employment history show exactly where their interests lie.
I think politicians should be like Nascar drivers: wear their sponsor's names on their suits.
Citizens United says ? you sir! -
Jonas.dini wrote: »My bigger issue with the fed is that it isn't attaching meaningful conditions to its 0%-interest loans to finance giants. They should have taken a page from the IMF and insist on SAPs.
This is my only issue with it, but seeing as Bernanke is the current Fed pres, im not surprised in the least bit this went down. -
The fed is not propping up the west on the global economy. The fed is propping up certain entrenched interests, very specific businesses and individuals. People that should go bankrupt and out of business, or in some cases, to jail. Hurting one large group(most of us) to finance and bail out another is not propping up an economy.
The Fed was created by bankers, for bankers. To add insult to injury, it bails out foreign bankers, too, not just US based ones. But it's done that ever since the 1920s.
The only thing positive the Fed can do for the American public is disappear. -
Wow, interesting read here. Good post.
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yall do realize that all the feds do is give out loans and buy assets
and the banks have to give the money back -
The fed is not propping up the west on the global economy. The fed is propping up certain entrenched interests, very specific businesses and individuals. People that should go bankrupt and out of business, or in some cases, to jail. Hurting one large group(most of us) to finance and bail out another is not propping up an economy.
The Fed was created by bankers, for bankers. To add insult to injury, it bails out foreign bankers, too, not just US based ones. But it's done that ever since the 1920s.
The only thing positive the Fed can do for the American public is disappear.
Even milton friedman said it would be impossible to abolish the FED
because every other country would have to abolish,there central bank which is impossible -
smh...
I'm speechless....
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My reaction exactly. Socialism is already in effect in the United States, for corporations and the rich. Imagine if the middle class and poor American people got a bailout a 3rd of that size.... -
politicalthug202 wrote: »yall do realize that all the feds do is give out loans and buy assets
and the banks have to give the money back
Why the ? can't I get loans at zero percent interest..........? -
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Good for Ron Paul.
The media will continue to try to paint him as a nut but history will prove itself. -
So...rick perry's comments on the fed were right? Lol
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I know a lot of y'all see an imminent dollar collapse brought on from QE, but I think that perspective is hella alarmist and not at all likely to come to fruition. Since the US government won't do real stimulus, the fed does its own version, I'm not crazy about it but it is the only game in town. It is also the reason why all the austerity that the gov is attempting to muster is utterly fake.
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kingblaze84 wrote: »Why the ? can't I get loans at zero percent interest..........?
Because you aren't a lender.
I don't have a problem with low interest rates under the circumstances, like I said before the problem is lack of conditions attached to those loans.
Especially with all the toxic assets the Fed is taking on, in some ways that's the real scandal.kingblaze84 wrote: »Imagine if the middle class and poor American people got a bailout
They should have done more of this kind of stimulus too
