Transparency, Now
By: PAUL JACKSON
November 10, 2008
As you read this, your dollars are being spent. Your dollars are being put to lend $2 trillion to unnamed, faceless financial institutions that ponied up God-knows-what as collateral to get it — and your dollars are on the line for the mortgage assets of Bear Stearns, too. If that’s not enough, your dollars are also now on the line for a just-announced SIV that will be buying up multi-sector worthless CDOs in the latest — but mark my words, not the last — effort to keep AIG afloat and the CDS market alive.
Which makes the lawsuit Bloomberg is bringing against the Federal Reserve one that every single one of us should be rooting for:
The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn’t require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
“The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that’s a big problem,” said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. “In a liquid market, this wouldn’t matter, but we’re not. The market is very nervous and very thin.”
Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure.
So much for transparency and helping markets recover, and all of the other bull**** that was used to sell this steaming pile of a bailout to the American public — and to Congress.
This is freedom-of-the-press sort of stuff, dear HW readers, the reason news was invented. These are your dollars. They’re my dollars, dollars that HousingWire has paid into the system to have this media outlet up here and running for you to read. And we all should know what Paulson et al. is doing with our money, shouldn’t we?
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November 19th, 2008 8:14 pm by Rao
The bail-out plan has neither put a stop to the falling DOW nor brought any hope back to the American industry. Is it because the other end of the equation ignored? And, Will the below 5 correct it?
1. Homeowner Tax-Refund
The homeowners who bought their first home during 2007-08 paid many times the amount of taxes they would have paid for a decade when home values fell. Give complete refund of Tax for last 3 years to all those with annual income <200K and bought a home during the past 2 years. Isn’t it better PREVNTION to foreclosures?
2. Homeowner Tax-Relief for 2009
Waive-off all taxes to everyone with annual income <200K buying a home in 2009. Will it STIMULATE new homeowner?
3. Approve Green cards to everyone working in US for more than 3 years.
Will it EXPAND and ASSURE hopefuls to work extra hard for US economy?
4. Levy Duty on imported goods
Free-Trade should also be FAIR and better goods should be able to bear FAIR price tag. It is important to protect consumer choice but it is terribly unfair to allow BMW to sell its cars much lower than what it sells in its own country of manufacture. So is allowing Levi’s to sell a pair of jeans for $30 in US and 80 euro in Germany / Europe. Will it NURTURE and STIMULATE local manufacturing again?
5. Reward Green Eco-System
Exempt Hybrid / Fuel efficient cars from Sales Tax. Will it STIMULATE foreign oil independency?
Best,
Rao
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