First Federal Reserve Audit Reveals Trillions in Secret Bailouts

[abelenkpe]

First Federal Reserve Audit Reveals Trillions in Secret Bailouts

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/28-3

The first-ever audit of the U.S. Federal Reserve has revealed 16 trillion dollars in secret bank bailouts and has raised more questions about the quasi-private agency’s opaque operations.

"This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else," U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, said in a statement.

The majority of loans were issues by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY).

"From late 2007 through mid-2010, Reserve Banks provided more than a trillion dollars… in emergency loans to the financial sector to address strains in credit markets and to avert failures of individual institutions believed to be a threat to the stability of the financial system," the audit report states.

(more at link)

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Posting this after reading post on front page: I'm Gonna Tell You a Story Today....

Crazy world isn't it?

[valerief]

1. When you finally accept the most important thing in the world is to make rich people richer,

it all makes sense. Everything absurdity then makes sense. Well, *why* rich people need to be richer doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to. We just need to know that it drives EVERYTHING in the world.

[onethatcares]

2. thanks for that slogan.

it's gonna stick daggers in the hearts of some unemployed teabaggers.:toast:

[arcane1]

3. Perfectly stated!

:toast:

[valerief]

5. Except that I meant to write absurd but instead wrote absurdity.

:hi:

[arcane1]

6. Nevertheles...

You nailed it!

:toast:

[amborin]

4. CBO said $19 trillion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1835728&mesg_id=1835741

[TreasonousBastard]

7. How much has been paid back? The discount window has always been...

a fundamental function of the Fed and more than once has prevented complete breakdown and chaos. We expect billions to be laid out regularly to prevent major failures. The only question is whether they have been just opening the spigot without any real thought.

Go back and study the Penn Central bankruptcy and the Whitehall brokerage failure to see how these things were dealt with in the past.

Since no one has yet finished reading all 23,000 pages of the report, and probably not even the abstract, why not wait until we see more details?