Audit Of The Fed Reveals $16 Trillion In Secret Bailouts

[lovuian]

$16,000,000,000,000.00 had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland. From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the world’s banks, corporations, and governments. The Federal Reserve likes to refer to these secret bailouts as an all-inclusive loan program, but virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest. Why the Federal Reserve had never been public about this or even informed the United States Congress about the $16 trillion dollar bailout is obvious - the American public would have been outraged to find out that the Federal Reserve bailed out foreign banks while Americans were struggling to find jobs.


This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else." - Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

GAO Audit and are as follows..

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175,000,000,000)
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places

View the 266-page GAO audit of the Federal Reserve(July 21st, 2011):

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

[FiveGoodMen]

1. !

:grr: :nuke: :puke: :banghead:

[yurbud]

2. isn't it time to get private banks out of the business of making and giving away our money?

[lovuian]

7. the Federal Reserve should not have this power

I want to know who has these Billions?
and trillions

where did all this money go???

why these loans were given is BEYOND ME!!!

[TheWraith]

10. The Federal Reserve DOESN'T have that power. That money is all still in the Federal Reserve.

Please curb the conspiracy theorism and actually read some facts before you go spreading false claims.

[slay]

82. Why do you keep defending big bank bailouts and the federal reserve? N/T

throughout this entire thread.

[TheWraith]

94. I'm defending actual fact against blatant misrepresentations.

The lack of understanding of the actual report referred to in the OP has given rise to the imaginary belief that somehow someone walked off with $16 trillion dollars in their pocket. And your ad hominem attacks don't change the actual facts to what you want them to be.

[slay]

95. Where are these facts you keep referring to, yet always fail to provide?

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[lonestarnot]

106. No gottum factums.

:evilgrin:

[yurbud]

108. they get it the same place they get all money--out of thin air

[girl gone mad]

17. Yes. n/t

[TheWraith]

3. Once again, THIS HAS LONG SINCE BEEN DEBUNKED AS FALSE.

These are SHORT TERM LOANS, usually as short as overnight, all of which were returned, and all of which were for relatively small amounts. If you loan $3 million dollars a day, by the end of the year you've loaned 1.1 billion dollars, but that doesn't mean you've ever had remotely close to that amount of money, let alone given it away.

It's absolutely laughable and insane to think that somehow someone secretly gave away more than the Gross Domestic Product of the United States.

[lovuian]

15. the GAO report for those who want to read it

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11696.pdf

The list of institutions that received the most money from the Federal Reserve can be found on page 131 of the GAO Audit

Congressmen like Dennis Kucinich sponsoring a bill to audit the Federal Reserve, you realize that the Federal Reserve is an entity onto itself, which has no oversight and no accountability.

[slay]

16. When is the last time you got a short term loan for a small amount like $3 million?

yeah i didn't think so.

[girl gone mad]

20. No.

During the crisis the term was extended to 90 days. Most of the loans were not "overnight".

The Fed had almost a trillion in unsecured loans at the peak. This represents a significant amount of taxpayer money put at risk in exchange for a near 0% interest rate.

It also demonstrates just how insolvent these banks were.

[TheWraith]

26. The maximum length was temporarily extended to 90 days. Most loans remained overnight.

And you seem to be aware that what the OP is claiming, which is that the Fed gave away $16 trillion dollars with no strings attached, is completely wrong.

[girl gone mad]

32. "Most loans remained overnight"

Post the link which proves your assertion. The posted audit indicates otherwise.

The $16 trillion is obviously the total in aggregate. Whether or not this makes the bailout more palatable is a matter of personal opinion.

[lovuian]

37. What were we doing bailing out Barclays!!!

there is a nice pie chart made by the GAO on page 134 showing all the foreign banks we bailed out

my goodness when you look at the chart
the foreign banks total make up for at least 59% bailout

We bailed out everybody

I think someone didn't want to be jailed by the world and used the American taxpayer for the fall guy

thinking nobody would see this list

[girl gone mad]

43. Yeah, it was pretty insane.

I tried to point this out at the time.

The TBTF's should have been wound down. I'm more convinced of that than ever. Like Keynes said in The Economic Consequences of the Peace, debts that cannot be paid will not be paid.

[banned from Kos]

45. the loans you mean? they are US banks with foreign headquarters

a bank chartered in the US is a US bank no matter what their name is.

There is a Royal Bank of Canada branch near me. In fact I think they have 500 branches here to serve US customers.

[lovuian]

66. I understand the subsidiary but the bank says BARCLAYS

loan given to Barclays

the pie chart show almost 60% of the money is FOREIGN firms and banks

where do the laws say we can do this

the US banks were either 35% or 41% that means where did the other 59% or 65% went to Foreign firms and banks

[girl gone mad]

85. No, these were foreign firms.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703865004575649160241029520.html

[lovuian]

87. oh that is an Awesome Article Thanks

The Fed's support of foreign banks was rooted in its effort to hold together the crumbling and heavily interconnected financial system. Government officials at the time were concerned the failure of another big financial firm after the collapse of Lehman Brothers would severely damage the global economy.

Dexia AG, a Belgian bank, turned to the Fed for $23 billion in 2008. Commerzbank AG, a German bank, came for $13 billion for commercial-paper loans and turned to another Fed loan facility 25 times for short-term loans of as much as $7.25 billion.

It just shows you that Europe was the Big problem and we bailed them out once but now they want another bailout

[banned from Kos]

91. notice all the references to commercial paper?

"Among the biggest loans from a Fed commercial-paper lending program was one to Swiss banking giant UBS AG, which tapped it for $37 billion in October 2008. Barclays PLC, the British bank that declined to rescue Lehman Brothers but later bought much of it from bankruptcy, tapped the Fed for roughly $10 billion in commercial-paper loans in October 2008."

CP is a vital corporate short term AAA only funding mechanism. We cannot operate without CP. It dried up completely in q4 2008 and the Fed saved the financial system by its CP program. It made McDonald's world payroll, for crying out loud.


I think that is your problem with all this. You wanted the system to completely fail so that socialism would replace it.

[girl gone mad]

97. Don't be silly.

What we got was Oligarchical Collectivism. Socialism for the rich.

What I had hoped we could avoid, from day one, was precisely what is now occurring.

During that time period I (and others) warned that transferring these bad private debts onto the public balance sheet would lead to a sovereign debt crisis which would evolve into a political crisis.

All of this bad debt the banks created through reckless lending and securitization - the excess financialization of our economy following the decimation of our productive sector and the deterioration of wages for labor - led to the collapse. Rather than taking their haircuts, our financial class simply looted the national purse. And now they want to force us to endure the austerity slash and burn playbook so that they can keep the loot.

[TheWraith]

51. The posted link does NOT indicate otherwise. You made the claim: back it up.

Furthermore, back up the claim that this money was never returned.

[girl gone mad]

56. Actually, you made the claim first, that these were all overnight loans..

and you have yet to back up that claim, either with a link or with basic logic.

I stated that the term for these loans had been extended to 90 days, which you did not dispute.

The Fed extended the limit to 90 days for a reason. Most borrowers took advantage of this extension. Why wouldn't they? Logically, the average term did not remain overnight.

[TheWraith]

60. No, I said MOSTLY overnight loans, and I DID offer you a link. You're just refusing facts.

Once again, you might want to actually get information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window

And yes, most loans remained overnight because that is how discount window banking typically works.

[girl gone mad]

62. Again, they were not mostly overnight..

and you have not shown that they were.

"that is how discount window banking typically works."

No. That's how it worked before the crisis.

[TheWraith]

64. Your insistance boils down to "I believe so, therefore it is!"

Please provide a citation that most loans were not overnight.

[lovuian]

67. I think you just need to read the GAO report

it explains it all

and if you have a link to back up your statement post it

[TheWraith]

70. I've posted it like 15 times. No one seems to care about facts.

And yes, I've looked at the GAO report. I understand it. Better, apparently, than some who believe it documents the giveaway of $16 trillion in imaginary money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window

Where exactly do you imagine that money came from? Do you think the Fed sits around with the entire US GDP in small bills? Do you think someone charged it onto the national debt without us noticing?

[lovuian]

88. I'll replay Bernie Sanders comment from his website

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.

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

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.

He is right
Congress holds the purse strings of Americans ...we pay taxes with representation

this was taking our money without debate

[femrap]

104. The money comes from the

Printing Press that the Fed has...it runs 24/7. Remember QE1, QE2???? The velocity of that money was very low...meaning it sat in the accounts of the Corporations and Wealthy.

You must be wraithly wealthy.

There were many, many things that Bernanke and Treasury did during the crisis that was 'UNPRECEDENTED.' I kept thinking that 'unprecedented' would be the word of the year.

[girl gone mad]

69. My conclusion is not based soleley on a belief..

it's based on the understanding that:

1. The Federal Reserve extended the term to 30 days, then 90 days after the financial crash.

and

2. We were in the midst of a broad insolvency crisis which necessitated that most of the borrowers hold this paper for significantly longer than overnight.

[lovuian]

25. Have you read the GAO findings

I'll try to write it for you
it says in small print on page 132
that they multiplied each loan amount by the number of days these loans have been outstanding
and divided the amount by the numbers of the days in the year 367
some of these loans have not been paid for three years

the interesting thing about the list
is this are the banks around the world who are having liquidity problems

I hope I read that right if I didn't someone explain it to me

and they are not all US Banks

[TheWraith]

27. Okay, first off, that's completely wrong. And actually that text proves your claim false.

Here's the ACTUAL text from page 132. Emphasis mine.

Note: The total dollar amounts borrowed represent the sum of all loans and have not been adjusted to
reflect differences in terms to maturity for the loans. Total borrowing is aggregated at the parent
company level and generally includes borrowing by branches, agencies, subsidiaries, and sponsored
ABCP conduits that we could identify. Total borrowing for each parent company consolidates
amounts borrowed by acquired institutions following the completion of acquisitions. PDCF totals
include credit extensions to affiliates of some primary dealers and TSLF totals include loans under the
TSLF Options Program (TOP).

In other words, every single loan to every single branch, at any time, added up. Those are NOT outstanding loans.

Furthermore:

"is this are the banks around the world who are having liquidity problems

I hope I read that right if I didn't someone explain it to me"

No. Discount window lending is a normal part of central banking, and it in no way implies liquidity problems.

"some of these loans have not been paid for three years"

False on the face of it. The maximum window for a loan from the fed is 90 days, after which the money has to be paid back.

[lovuian]

34. here is page 133

GAO report


Note: The dollar amounts borrowed for each loan were term-adjusted by multiplying the loan amountby the term to maturity for the loan and dividing by 365 days. Term to maturity is calculated as thedifference between the original loan maturity date and the trade date and does not reflect repaymentsof loans that occurred before the original loan maturity date. Total borrowing is aggregated at theparent company level and generally includes borrowing by branches, agencies, subsidiaries, andsponsored ABCP conduits that we could identify. Total borrowing for each parent companyconsolidates amounts borrowed by acquired institutions following the completion of acquisitions.PDCF totals include credit extensions to affiliates of some primary dealers and TSLF totals includeloans under the TSLF Options Program (TOP).
U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign institutions received over half of the total dollar amount of TAFand CPFF loans made (see fig. 10). As noted previously, such institutionswere permitted to borrow under the terms and conditions of the lendingprograms. For both programs, FRBNY staff explained that as long asparticipating institutions were eligible to use the program, monitoringwhether certain types of institutions accessed a program more thanothers was not relevant to the programs’ objectives. Federal ReserveBoard officials told us the programs sought to support funding marketsthat were global, and agencies and branches of foreign firms weresignificant participants in lending to U.S. households and businesss

U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign institutions received over half of the total dollar amount of TAFand CPFF loans made (see fig. 10). As noted previously, such institutionswere permitted to borrow under the terms and conditions of the lendingprograms. For both programs, FRBNY staff explained that as long asparticipating institutions were eligible to use the program, monitoringwhether certain types of institutions accessed a program more thanothers was not relevant to the programs’ objectives. Federal ReserveBoard officials told us the programs sought to support funding marketsthat were global, and agencies and branches of foreign firms weresignificant participants in lending to U.S. households and businesses

I do think I read above that over half of the toatal dollar amount went to FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS!!!

I think the best part of the report is we know which banks were in the liquidity crisis
and how bad the situation was

[girl gone mad]

40. The report showed the absolutely stunning..

amount of money that Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley were borrowing during this time. These institutions were indisputably insolvent, despite their (and the administration's) adamant proclamations to the contrary.

Wraith might prefer an adjusted view of the lending.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/__Story_Inserts/graphics/__CHARTS_SPECIAL/NET_NET/NetNet_gao_analysis_2.pdf

[lovuian]

42. How can the US Federal Reserve give Americans money

to bail Barclays out and why would England take our money?

[banned from Kos]

49. no one "gave" anything away. They were loans.

If that basic concept is beyond your grasp then you are hopeless.

[girl gone mad]

50. Why so rude?

Unsecured loans and loans backed by toxic collateral amount to a giveaway in my book.

[TheWraith]

53. Because you clearly have no idea what you're talking about, but insist you do. nt

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TheWraith]

63. Ironic that you complain about others supposedly being ignorant, when you won't educate yourself.

Again, please read the actual facts, and you might start to understand why everyone who actually understands banking, including all the media, knows that the claims made in the OP are completely and totally bullshit.

[girl gone mad]

73. All the media understands banking?

:rofl:

[slay]

79. Oh come on - don't I at least get one of your many n/t messages?

it's not like i'm going to waste my time reading your load of BS anymore anyways. you obviously have no facts to support you claim. EOM.

[girl gone mad]

59. Was I addressing you?

Are you and Banned for Kos the same person or has he authorized you to speak for him?

[TheWraith]

61. In a free discussion forum, one is not required to ask permission to speak. nt

[Generic Brad]

35. How can it be a secret if it is in a published report?

:freak:

[lovuian]

38. this audit was fought for by Congressman Kucinich

otherwise we would not know

[lovuian]

39. if it wasn't for the audit requested by Kucinich It would still be

secret

[slay]

46. No, What YOU are saying is FALSE

see i can use caps too without providing ONE BIT of evidence to back up what is being said.

[fasttense]

96. You don't know what you are talking about.

It clearly says in the report that all the bail out money has NOT been repaid.

From the GAO report:

"As of April 27, 2011, the Federal Reserve Board
reported that no TALF borrowers had chosen to surrender their collateral
instead of repaying their loans. As of June 29, 2011, approximately $13
billion of TALF loans remained outstanding out of $71.1 billion in total
TALF lending."

"As of June 29, 2011, Maiden Lane II LLC owed $8.6 billion in principal and interest to FRBNY."

"As of June 29, 2011, approximately $22 billion in principal and accrued interest remained outstanding on FRBNY’s loan to Maiden Lane LLC."

If they don't pay it back, how can it be a short term loan.

[yurbud]

4. I would like to hear our conservative Democratic friends tell us what the benefit of the Fed is...

at least for those of us who aren't bankers.

That list makes it clear what the benefit is for bankers.

[woo me with science]

5. And they have the GALL to use this Super Committee to make US pay.

They are thieves. All of them, OUT. NOW.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TheWraith]

11. It doesn't bother you that this claim is completely false? nt

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TheWraith]

22. Next time you believe something that's wrong, you might want to try doing research.

Instead of reflexively trying to attack anyone who educates you. The practice of short-term lending to banks is called the "discount window," and it's intended to act as a balancing effect to prevent crashes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window

[lovuian]

31. the great thing about the GAO report is it tells us the banks

who were in trouble and shall we say in cahoots

[slay]

44. Whatever dude

alert on this post and get it deleted too why don't you.

[lovuian]

52. this is the first audit in 100 years of the Federal reserve

I think that is so powerful

and we see that this insolvency problem spans all over the world

Americans are suppose to bail out all the countries of the world?

continue a huge military budget

[slay]

54. Excellent point

nice to see people with real information and not people making excuses for the big bank bailouts.

[TheWraith]

65. Again, you're completely misunderstanding the report.

Discount window loans do not indicate solvency problems. It's part of the standard method of central banking, in order to prevent crises and increase the flow of money through the system.

[lovuian]

74. There was a INSOVENCY problem and STILL is

look at Europe and the Euro crisis for one

and the TARP Bailout and Lehman Brothers failure Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA

On September 15, 2008, the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following the massive exodus of most of its clients, drastic losses in its stock, and devaluation of its assets by credit rating agencies. The filing marked the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history,<4> and is thought to have played a major role in the unfolding of the late-2000s global financial crisis. The following day, Barclays announced its agreement to purchase, subject to regulatory approval, Lehman's North American investment-banking and trading divisions along with its New York headquarters building.
wikipedia


Lehmans started a dominoe effect all over the world
the bailout was so many of the players would not be accountable or go to jail

[girl gone mad]

84. You're extrapolating.

Yes, up until 2008 the discount window functioned fairly routinely.

Post-crisis, operations were wildly divergent.

[girl gone mad]

21. There is nothing false about the claim.

[TheWraith]

23. There is everything false about the claim. Do a little research.

Again, it's called the discount window. Only someone who knows absolutely NOTHING about either the Federal Reserve or monetary policy in general could seriously believe someone just gave away $16 trillion dollars--more than the entire US GDP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window

[girl gone mad]

33. Actually total public money at risk at the height bailouts was $23.7 trillion..

much greater than the GDP. Clearly 16 trillion at risk is not an unreasonable figure.

[lovuian]

78. bernie says on his website 16 trill

July 21, 2011

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."

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

it is a great read

[fasttense]

99. It is NOT false. You need to read the GAO report.n/t

[City Lights]

6. Oh how quaint! Just warms the heart!

:nuke:

[slay]

8. What.. the.. hell?!?!

this is why #OWS is so important. we are being SCREWED by the rich and powerful from every angle - Democrats included!

[Downwinder]

12. And they are worrying about my piddling Social Security.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

13. Seriously, why wasn't this front-page news?

I understand that the media will often bury stories, either for reasons of political agenda or because it doesn't fit the format or is too wonkish for our short attention spans, etc. But really, if the Federal Reserve gave away SIXTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS during the WBush and Obama administrations, this should be front page large type screaming headlines everywhere. They gave away the entire damned store to prop up failed grifters so that said grifters could have another go at raping the world's financial system, and they completely hid this from us. That's staggering, even to someone as jaded as me.

[TheWraith]

28. Because the people who handle news understand that it's completely false.

The Federal Reserve did not give away $16 trillion dollars. That's just the knee-jerk conclusion of people reading one part of a report, without understanding what they're looking at or the meaning of the words OVERNIGHT LOAN.

[lovuian]

48. Don't worry its published and the GAO report is out

for everyone to see...

we can all see the banks the players the countries
and how the Feds usurped their powers
by bailing out foreign banks

I don't think any American believes we need to bail out Japan Germany England France banks

something made these banks go into insolvency

it was deriviative FRAUD

we now know the players...and now we know the scope of the cover up
and now we see the joke of this

American deficit...and Europe deficit

[TheWraith]

55. Yes, it was published, and anyone who knows what they're talking about knows you're wrong.

Your understanding of this is completely and totally wrong, as is your claim that the US government somehow gave away more money than the entire yearly GDP of the United States without anyone noticing. It is a completely false conspiracy theory.

[lovuian]

75. I'm RIGHT let the people read the GAO report

and see the delicious details of Foreign Banks getting tons of US tax payers money

Don't spoil the fun of reading the audit

[fasttense]

They were NOT overnight loans because a lot of the money has still NOT been repaid.

If those are overnight loans, then it's one hell of a long night.

[fasttense]

100. They were NOT overnight loans because a lot of the money has still NOT been repaid.

If those are overnight loans, then it's one hell of a long night.

[lovuian]

105. Can I ask anybody know what right the Fed had to bailout

foreign banks? Because I heard tonite on Kudloe by a ex Fed Reserve board member that the European crisis can be handled by the Fed

My answer is do we keep bailing out and bailing out and bailing even Europe

this is the taxpayers of America's money


I thought this idea interesting
The European Central Bank is not stepping in to buy euro-denominated sovereign debt, so why should the United States Federal Reserve Bank?

It would make more sense for the Fed to move in and facilitate the use of the dollar as a secondary currency by those euro zone members who are struggling. That would give the Fed a part of the upside in an eventual euro zone recovery (which is, despite the gloom, inevitable), and it would also serve the long-term interests of the United States by maintaining the prestige and importance of the dollar.

[court jester]

30. not hidden here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2204626

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1549877

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1835728

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1568899

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1617867

there's more but you get the idea

check the post dates

the thing is, in 3 or 4 days the entire story will fade away again

[lovuian]

41. thanks court jester!

I remember seeing some of those

[freshwest]

14. I did not know that Sanders would ever get this information. It's the turning of the tide, at last.

Revolutions are made from information. Thanks for this, lovuian.

:kick:

[TheWraith]

29. This has been out for many months. And frequently debunked, at that. nt

[slay]

47. Again, prove it

n/t

[TheWraith]

58. I have. You might want to read the links I've given you already.

And the last time I posted them in response to this bullshit conspiracy theory, and the time before that, and the time before that.

Literally the only people who seriously believe what the OP said are conspiracy theorists, and people who don't know enough about banking to understand what is being referred to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window

[Octafish]

68. What link? Wikipedia?

Thanks. I'll stick with Bernie Sanders, though.

[TheWraith]

72. Bernie Sanders isn't the one claiming someone gave away $16 trillion dollars.

Even he, in railing against how the fed operates, isn't claiming that anything was done other than large quantities of discount window lending. In other words monetary policy he disagrees with, not asserting that somebody stole $16 trillion. Because he actually takes the time to understand what he's talking about.

[lovuian]

77. Your Wrong this is what Bernie says

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

July 21, 2011

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."

read it and weep



"This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else." - Bernie Sanders (I-VT)


ya right discount window

[court jester]

83. +16

:thumbsup:


What does *one* TRILLION dollars look like?
http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html



Scale: The red thing on the left is a human being
and those are double stacked pallets of $100 dollar bills

[Octafish]

81. You said ''stole,'' not Bernie and not me. ''Bailout'' is the name of the game...

...and if you're connected, you win.

Take the Real Wives of Wall Street.

They got to play the bailout game. Most did not. They -- as in We the People -- lost.

[Occulus]

86. Would you like to know why nobody believes you?

It's because of your posting history on this and other subjects.

[lovuian]

76. It wasn't a discount window ...It was a Robbery of Americans

future and a economic bomb to Americans way of life

I'll stick with Bernie too

[slay]

80. Exactly

i don't understand what is going on with this guy.

[fasttense]

101. The only people who believe what the poster said are conspiracy theorists? Then include the GAO as a

conspiracy theorist.

[KoKo]

90. Actually you must not read Financial News or be involved in the stock market enough to care.

There's no debunking unless you get "Talking Points" from the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Chamber of Commerce or the Friedmanomics/Greenspan Think Pieces and their shills in the Media.

You may believe what you believe but, you get it from the same people who TOOK THE SYSTEM DOWN...

So, you close your ears to evidence when it's in your face.

Sorry for you but, you don't hold all the cards anymore. There's a good group of Economists who aren't Greenspan/Friedman clones who can refute you dollar for dollar and lie for lie.

[banned from Kos]

92. Like Krugman? He ignores this false "story" too. Its garbage.

The whole world of economists ignores it.

[enough]

19. k&r (nt)

[golddigger]

24. WTF?

:mad: :nuke: :grr:

[sarcasmo]

36. Clearly class warfare, time to kick the Greedy parasites out and start over.

[Octafish]

71. Citi got $2.5 Trillion?

How much of that did they loan BACK to Uncle Sam?

At 4-percent interest, they MADE $100 Billion. Not a bad haul for not having to do a day's work.

[KoKo]

89. Yep...done in the dark of night under the cover of PANIC for the Wealthy.

Those of us who read financial news have known about this. It's what it is. What will be done about it?

NOTHING... Tim Geithner is still in charge and no prosecutions are being done.

Move on to something else.

[redqueen]

93. what the f...

[JCMach1]

98. The Banks get charity and the people get austerity!

I really hate to say, but I am going to have to agree with the crew that wants the Fed dissolved... Enough is enough! It must be held accountable by the Government and the Treasury Department.

[Remember Me]

102. So basically, we've been in rolling worldwide financial collapse for a while now

Hmmm. How interesting. There'll be a point, I predict, when it'll not be so rolling and bite all of us on the ass at once.

[Wilms]

103. ^

[Dover]

107. "Socialism" isn't the word I'd use for it. This is theft and a CRIMINAL act....n/t

[Matariki]

109. Let's call it what it is - theft.

It's clear to me that a small, select group of individuals has been methodically draining the US Treasury and any and all wealth this Nation has. You can bet on it that the pool of money in Social Security is too delicious for these fucks to pass up.

[lovuian]

110. yep

they want it all don't they