G.O.O.D

Source: globalresearch.ca

The Federal Reserve has bluntly refused a request by a major US financial news service to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from US taxpayers and to reveal the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Their lawyers resorted to the bizarre argument that they did so to protect ‘trade secrets.’ Is the secret that the US financial system is de facto bankrupt? The latest Fed move is further indication of the degree of panic and lack of clear strategy within the highest ranks of the US financial institutions. Unprecedented Federal Reserve expansion of the Monetary Base in recent weeks sets the stage for a future Weimar-style hyperinflation perhaps before 2010.

On November 7 Bloomberg filed suit under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting details about the terms of eleven new Federal Reserve lending programs created during the deepening financial crisis.

The Fed responded on December 8 claiming it’s allowed to withhold internal memos as well as information about ‘trade secrets’ and ‘commercial information.’ The central bank did confirm that a records search found 231 pages of documents pertaining to the requests.

The Bernanke Fed in recent weeks has stepped in to take a role that was the original purpose of the Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The difference between a Fed bailout of troubled financial institutions and a Treasury bailout is that central bank loans do not have the oversight safeguards that Congress imposed upon the TARP. Perhaps those are the ‘trade secrets the hapless Fed Chairman,Ben Bernanke, is so jealously guarding from the public.

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Technorati Tags: Hyperinflation, Weimar Republic

Source: Bloomberg.com

The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Bloomberg filed suit Nov. 7 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act requesting details about the terms of 11 Fed lending programs, most created during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The Fed responded Dec. 8, saying it’s allowed to withhold internal memos as well as information about trade secrets and commercial information. The institution confirmed that a records search found 231 pages of documents pertaining to some of the requests.

“If they told us what they held, we would know the potential losses that the government may take and that’s what they don’t want us to know,” said Carlos Mendez, a senior managing director at New York-based ICP Capital LLC, which oversees $22 billion in assets.

The Fed stepped into a rescue role that was the original purpose of the Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. The central bank loans don’t have the oversight safeguards that Congress imposed upon the TARP.

Total Fed lending exceeded $2 trillion for the first time Nov. 6. It rose by 138 percent, or $1.23 trillion, in the 12 weeks since Sept. 14, when central bank governors relaxed collateral standards to accept securities that weren’t rated AAA.

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Technorati Tags: Federal Reserve, TARP

Perhaps a glimpse of things to come…

Source: inthenews.co.uk

Protesters in Iceland have clashed with police during a demonstration against the country’s economic woes.

Over the past year Iceland’s currency, the Krona, has fallen by 50 per cent as the Scandinavian country nationalised its three biggest banks to prevent their collapse.

It has also received emergency loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its neighbours to help it deal with the financial turmoil.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament on Saturday demanding government resignations over the worsening economic climate.

A small group then broke off and headed towards the city’s main police station to call for the release of a man who had been detained after failing to pay a fine over previous protests.

Police used pepper spray as the group tried to storm the building and managed to bring the crowd under control. The detained man was later released.

Iceland was the first country to seek financial assistance from the IMF as the turmoil in the credit markets in October made trading conditions difficult for the country’s biggest financial institutions.

The UK government used anti-terror legislation to freeze money deposited by UK savers in Icelandic banks in order to ensure that their money was protected.

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Technorati Tags: Iceland