Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg News asked a U.S. court today to force the Federal Reserve to disclose securities the central bank is accepting on behalf of American taxpayers as collateral for $1.5 trillion of loans to banks. The lawsuit is based on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which requires federal agencies to make government documents available to the press and the public, according to the complaint. The suit, filed in New York, doesn't seek money damages. ``The American taxpayer is entitled to know the risks, costs and methodology associated with the unprecedented government bailout of the U.S. financial industry,'' said Matthew Winkler, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, a unit of New York-based Bloomberg LP, in an e-mail. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aKr.oY2YKc2g
Imo, this has got to be the greatest lawsuit ever filed. "The Fed didn't give Bloomberg a formal response because ``it got caught in the vortex of the things going on here,'' said Michael O'Rourke, another member of the Fed's FOIA staff." Ha, "vortex". We have a shitstorm going on and now is not the time to be asking questions. Go get 'em Bloomie.
While they are at it - can Bloomberg get a monthly report of how much the PPT is playing in equities, futures and options? I think some peoples' trading strategies would change, if they saw those numbers too. -gastropod
Guaranteed to die with barely a whimper heard. No way the government, much less the mainstream media, forces the American public to understand that the Federal Reserve is not a federal agency, but is actually an institution privately owned by the very banks that got us into this mess. Yeah, that'd go over real well...
Re the PPT, the way I understand it, in the past the PPT would would ease lending requirements for the institutions to purchase stock index futures hence support. It doesn't appear that this is the same MO.
``The American taxpayer is entitled to know the risks, costs and methodology associated with the unprecedented government bailout of the U.S. financial industry,'' ------------------------------------ Does anyone suppose Hank Paulson might know this info?
Awesome. Thanks for the link. The Government is going to lose this case. I just can't wait to see the total shit they've been accepting. Joy. Party on.