I've been following this case for a very long time now, and I'm pleased to announce that within 5 days (so say the members of the Supreme Court), that the Federal Reserve has been duly ordered to stop hiding behind the Freedom of Information Act and provide all information regarding just who the hell got 'the cash' from the Great Heist of 2008.
Gee, sorry Lloyd Blankfien, so sorry Jamie Dimon. Why do I get the feeling that these guys (along with Bernanke and Geithner) are going to be in a very nasty mood the next few days, yelling at their subordinates more than usual? I can hear Lloyd now screaming in his private Gulf Stream Jet: 'How many fucking times do I have to tell you, Juanita: I don't want any more than three icecubes in my single malt scotch!! You're fired!!!'
Oil up those shredding machines boys, and get your best sleazy accountants to move the numbers around, PDQ. Lots of damage control to work on before the time is up and 'we,' the little people that you robbed blind, get to actually find out what it is like to be such close friends with the 'endless open discount window,' of the high and almighty Oz, The Federal Reserve.
Statement by Bloomberg News Editor in Chief Matthew Winkler:
"At some point long before the credit markets seized up in 2007, financial markets collapsed and the economy plunged into the worst recession since the 1930s, the Federal Reserve forgot that it is the central bank for the people of the United States and not a private academy where decisions of great importance may be withheld from public scrutiny. As only Congress has the constitutional power to coin money, Congress delegates that power to the Fed and the Fed must be accountable to Congress, especially in disclosing what it does with the people's money."
The justices today left intact a court order that gives the Fed five days to release the records, sought by Bloomberg News’s parent company, Bloomberg LP. The Clearing House Association LLC, a group of the nation’s largest commercial banks, had asked the Supreme Court to intervene. The order marks the first time a court has forced the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed from its oldest lending program, the 98-year-old discount window. The disclosures, together with details of six bailout programs released by the central bank in December under a congressional mandate, would give taxpayers insight into the Fed’s unprecedented $3.5 trillion effort to stem the 2008 financial panic.
“I can’t recall that the Fed was ever sued and forced to release information” in its 98-year history, said Allan H. Meltzer, the author of three books on the U.S central bank and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Under the trial judge’s order, the Fed must reveal 231 pages of documents related to borrowers in April and May 2008, along with loan amounts. News Corp.’s Fox News is pressing a bid for 6,186 pages of similar information on loans made from August 2007 to November 2008. The records were originally requested under FOIA, which allows citizens access to government papers, by the late Bloomberg News reporter Mark Pittman.
http://www.zerohedge.com/...
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
This is huge news, and there was absolutely no viable reason for the Federal Reserve/Bernanke to be able to hide behind the FOIA, except of course, to keep the American people in the dark about who 'their best friends are,' and who is favored in the Wall St./Banking cartel that destroyed our national and international economies, then of course, got paid off for doing so.
My heart goes out today in thanks to the late Mark Pittman and his family, who was virtually destroyed trying to make this case for the American people.
‘Fearless, Trusted’
In the “Faustian Bargain” series, Pittman explained how 5 percent of U.S. mortgage borrowers missing monthly payments could lead to a freeze in lending throughout the world.
“Mark Pittman proved to be the most fearless, most trusted reporter on the most important beat during the 12 years he wrote about credit markets, corporate finance and the Federal Reserve at Bloomberg News,” said Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler. “His colleagues will miss his laughter and generous sense of mission. Bloomberg readers were rewarded by his many achievements culminating with a federal court ruling validating his search for records of taxpayer-financed policies withheld from the public and the Gerald Loeb Award.”
Public policy would be more effective if reporters, lawmakers and citizens understood how the financial system worked and why the crisis happened, Pittman said in the Feb. 27, 2009, interview with Chittum. “Hopefully, we will be able to inform the people enough to know how badly we’re getting screwed,” he said with a laugh. “We need to know how to prevent it from happening again, and we need to know who did it.”
http://www.bearishnews.com/...
For more on Mark Pittman (a true American hero) check out this amazing interview that he did regarding what really goes down inside the secret walls of the Federal Reserve, and why transparency is so necessary in our nation's financial sectors.
http://www.cjr.org/...
Thanks as always. Thought you might want to know about this turn of events.
Ms. B.