March 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Board of Governors receives daily reports on loans to banks and securities firms, the institution said in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News.
| Bloomberg being one of the few news agencies that isn't wholly in the tank for Bambi. |
The Fed refused yesterday to disclose the names of the borrowers and the loans, alleging that it would cast “a stigma” on recipients of more than $1.9 trillion of emergency credit from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
| A 'stigma'. Now isn't that an interesting response in the Age of Obama ... |
The bank provides “select members and staff of the Board of Governors with daily and weekly reports” on Primary Dealer Credit Facility borrowing, said Susan E. McLaughlin, a senior vice president in the markets group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in a deposition. The documents “include the names of the primary dealers that have borrowed from the PDCF, individual loan amounts, composition of securities pledged and rates for specific loans.”
| It isn't like we're asking for the codes to the nuclear football. Taxpayers provided the money, and taxpayers need to know that the money is being handled properly. And since the Federal Reserve is part of the reason we got into this mess in the first place, with lax regulation of mortgages and banks buying mortgage backed securities, someone needs to watch the watchers. |
The Board of Governors contends that itÂ’s separate from its member banks, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York which runs the lending programs. Most documents relevant to the Bloomberg suit are at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which isnÂ’t subject to FOIA law, according to the Fed. The Board of Governors has 231 pages of documents, which it is denying access to under an exemption under trade secrets.
“I would assume that information would be shared by the Fed and the New York Fed,” said U.S. Representative Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican. “At some point, the demand for transparency is paramount to any demand that they have for secrecy.”
I think he means, 'superior to any demand'. Then again he's a politician so who the hell knows what he's saying?
I'd explain it to them like this: if you want any more money, you'd better show us how the money we've given you before has been spent. |
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