PUBLIC INFORMATION — Ryan Grim, reporting in the Huffington Post, notes that the Federal Reserve System has doled out more than $2 trillion in an
effort to stave off the financial crisis, pouring money into "hundreds
and hundreds" of banks, according to Federal Reserve chief Ben
Bernanke. Which banks? On what terms? At what rates? Don't ask the Fed.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, intends to put the Senate on record opposed to such Fed secrecy.
"The contrast is pretty clear," Sanders tells the Huffington Post,
"if you want to know who received the money under TARP, go to the
website, it's there. If you want to know who received the money from
the Fed, it ain't there."
Sanders opposed the initial TARP funds, but says that as long as
money's being spent, taxpayers ought to know where it's going. This
week, he will introduce a Sense of the Senate resolution calling on the
Fed to release information to the public regarding what it's doing with
its money.
"The argument is that it would hurt these companies if the public
was made aware that they need the money. I just don't accept that. I
just don't accept that," says Sanders.
"The contrast is pretty clear," Sanders tells the Huffington Post,
"if you want to know who received the money under TARP, go to the
website, it's there. If you want to know who received the money from
the Fed, it ain't there."
Sanders opposed the initial TARP funds, but says that as long as
money's being spent, taxpayers ought to know where it's going. This
week, he will introduce a Sense of the Senate resolution calling on the
Fed to release information to the public regarding what it's doing with
its money.
"The argument is that it would hurt these companies if the public
was made aware that they need the money. I just don't accept that. I
just don't accept that," says Sanders.
