Did The Fed Lie About The Bear Stearns Bailout? Bloomberg & Congress Scrutinize Maiden Lane Assets
Fed audit, anyone?
As part of the bailout of Bear Stearns, and to facilitate Bear's purchase by JPMorgan, Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner and the Fed created a taxpayer-funded cesspool of toxicity benevolently titled Maiden Lane Partners, and then repeatedly lied to or misled Congress about the quality of the assets it held, say Congressional members from both sides of the aisle.
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From Bloomberg:
Fed Made Taxpayers Unwitting Junk Buyers
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then-New York Fed President Timothy Geithner told senators on April 3, 2008, that the tens of billions of dollars in “assets” the government agreed to purchase in the rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. were “investment-grade.”
They didn’t share everything the Fed knew about the money.
The so-called assets included collateralized debt obligations and mortgage-backed bonds with names like HG-Coll Ltd. 2007-1A that were so distressed, more than $40 million already had been reduced to less than investment-grade by the time the central bankers testified. The government also became the owner of $16 billion of credit-default swaps, and taxpayers wound up guaranteeing high-yield, high-risk junk bonds.
By using its balance sheet to protect an investment bank against failure, the Fed took on the most credit risk in its 96- year history and increased the chance that Americans would be on the hook for billions of dollars as the central bank began insuring Wall Street firms against collapse. The Fed’s secrecy spurred legislation that will require government audits of the Fed bailouts and force the central bank to reveal recipients of emergency credit.
“Either the Fed did not understand the distressed state of some of the assets that it was purchasing from banks and is only now discovering their true value, or it understood that it was buying weak assets and attempted to obscure that fact,” Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in an e-mail when informed about the credit quality of holdings in the Maiden Lane LLC portfolio. The committee held the April 3 hearing.
Bear Stearns Purchase
Maiden Lane, named for a street bordering the New York Fed’s Manhattan headquarters, was created to hold the assets the central bank acquired to facilitate JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s purchase of Bear Stearns.
The Fed disclosed the Maiden Lane holdings in March after Bloomberg News went to court using the Freedom of Information Act, and the U.S. District Court in New York held that the Fed should release documents related to Bloomberg’s request.
“The Federal Reserve was not straightforward with the American people regarding the risks they were taking with taxpayer money, despite my efforts to obtain such clarity at the time,” U.S. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the Senate Banking Committee’s top Republican, told Bloomberg News. “It is apparent that the Fed withheld from the Congress and the public material information about the condition of these securities.”
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Jul 9, 2010 at 3:01 PM
Reader Comments (80)
you post non-stop clips...not much different from ken...the only difference is that you communicate and discuss them to some extent...i ask you again...how are you being censored and how are others' views being censored...?...they are not...the only people who get chased out of here are people who attack me first for my views on palin...anyone is free to love or hate her as far as i'm concerned, it's when some brand new commenter decides to introduce himself by telling me how stupid i am for not loving sarah...that's it...happens maybe 3 times per year...
http://dailybail.com/home/guest-post-a-history-of-stimulus-funny-money-central-banking.html
http://dailybail.com/home/political-puppets-the-bankers-manifesto-and-the-business-par.html
No volume melt ups have become the norm under the Bernanke regime - everyone is forced to expect the most ridiculous, manipulated excreta possible from the primary dealers. When people realize, soon enough, that the fair value of their 401k are about 95% lower, maybe, just maybe, something will change about this broken record. Until then, just bet on the chopper - Benny will make it all good until everything ultimately blows up.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/even-lab-rats-have-become-habituated-expect-last-15-minute-meltup-no-volume
Artist's Rendering Of Ben Bernanke's Desktop
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/artists-rendering-ben-bernankes-desktop
PHOENIX – Retirees and other residents from all over the country were among those who donated nearly $500,000 to help Arizona defend its immigration enforcement law, with most chipping in $100 or less, according to an analysis of documents obtained Thusday by The Associated Press.
The donations, 88 percent of which came from through the defense fund's website, surged this week after the federal government sued Tuesday to challenge the law. A document from Gov. Jan Brewer's office showed that 7,008 of the 9,057 online contributions submitted by Thursday morning were made in the days following the government's filing.
Website contributions came from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and nearly 2,000 came from within Arizona. Donations ranged from $5 to $2,000, with the vast majority between $10 and $100.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100708/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_donations
Market Manipulation, Systemic Risk and Fraud, Pure and Simple, And It Continues Today
http://www.themarketguardian.com/2010/04/market-manipulation-systemic-risk-and-fraud-pure-and-simple-and-it-continues-today/
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/a-gigantic-ponzi-scheme-lies-and-fraud-howard-davidowitz-on-wall-street-514236.html?tickers=XLF,AIG,GS,JPM,BAC,C,FNM
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/04/14/bernanke-hey-unemployed-deal-with-it/
That is the most I have ever gotten from your computer program.
Kurt Vonnegut huh, does your Kenbot program even know who you are copying? Can you place the name to his words above Kenbot?
I will give you a hint...it ends...Everybody else is a robot, a machine.
Kind of ironic as you are the copybot of this site. You have kissed a lot of ass in here Kennyboy, how is that going for you?
Let me know when you want to chat some more...let me start...1110001000100010100101001000001010111101010101010010101010101010101010101001010101010100101010010101010101010101010000101001010101000000101011111010101010101010100101010101010010101010100101010101001
and as for gomp's corporation/capitalism comments, i took those to be part of his wider theme of the destructive side of corporate behaviour and the havoc it plays on workers, society, economies and the earth…”
Very good Steve, I bet you picked that up reading every word of the comments and looking at the links, didn’t you? It is amusing how some read every 5th word and formulate their own completely screwed up conclusion while never looking at the links. After all, it would not take long to read the links at every 5th word at a time.
“As for you Gomp...you are Iran and I am the USA of old. If you strike me, I will strike back with force and determination. Bush said it best before people like you made him take it back...I bet Rudy would have backed up his words with action. Where is the Bush Doctrine when we need it.”
That is hilarious coming from someone who has been using the name of a several thousand year old dead Iranian guy. There is just one problem, I am a believer in G-d, and you are the one who worships the atheists Saul and Fredrick. By the way, I never made him take it back.
“I didn't vote for Barry and I don't think that he came from a one party system. I don't know how you can think differently and still believe in the greatness of this country. It does explain a bit of the lack of faith around here.”
I didn’t vote for Obama either, and told you that, oops, I bet you did not look at that link either. Here is what Gobie thinks of links, unless they are birthers. I have faith in the system Gobie, just not the two parties controlled by the same contributors.
“What is yellow and red government DB? Please, just a few paragraphs to answer this question. July 9, 2010 | Z What is yellow and red influence on society?
Gomp says...You can't execute a corporation no matter how evil it is, you can't throw it in jail, and if you fine it it just laughs and passes the costs on to you.
When everything is run by the government, will we need bigger jails?
Gomp says...The problem with capitalism is the invention of the corporation.
So, can you give me a timeline of the invention of capitalism and where the invention of the corporation fits in, hmmm, maybe just a link or two.”
Gobie, you and I both know you do not read the links…
“Why do you continue to babble, oh right, because you don't use facts or have the facts on your side. How about presenting your point of view, however confused, and stop the crazy references. How boring. Come on old man, make a point about something.” April 18, 2010 | Zarathustra
Square peg, round hole… Those links are the references, and there are many more out there. You need to let your fingers do the walking Gobie, I post the links for others, I won’t look up shit for you when you do not read it anyway. Our founders spelled it all out clear enough, you just won’t find it in the books that you read.
By the way, has anyone ever seen Gobie answer a question?
Steve was able to figure it out all by himself, you should be able to also. I know it is a big expectation…
“When everything is run by the government, will we need bigger jails?”
I am not a fan of everything being run by your Goobermint, you probably missed that on your journey of every 5th word as well, I am about independence, anti tax, extremely limited government and services, extremely pro second ammendment ( in fact, all aspects of the Constitution and Federalist papers), remember that while you are at the collective grocery store. As to jails, that depends, do we have enough room for the GS and associated criminals now? Or would you rather just let them make some campaign contributions and go back to working on new and greater plans to rob the people of our nation.
Our Founders were very clear on watching corporations, and that experience came from Europe. And if you do not believe it look it up, and if you reject it, go buy a car with the funny throttles, kill someone, and argue from prison the glories of the corporations our founders warned us about as you watch the bonuses get passed around because you helped their bottom line. Just don’t drop the soap…
Or did I let the cat out of the bag with the health spa comment on our Gulf coast, this was not an act of G-d, this was the hand of man. Decisions based on fraudulent permit filings that stated they could handle all contingencies, and self regulation to cut costs. In some peoples world, we would need prisons for the victims (that will be the camps you refer to), because the corporation is as pure and divinely inspired as the driven snow...
If you do build that health spa Gobie, you will probably do well, after all, there is a fool born every minute. But I will still stand for the victims, they did nothing wrong.
“i thought it was a well presented series of thoughts from gomp with one very slight, playful jab at gobie for square pegs and round holes…”
I was trying to protect his job as the chief pinhead setter.
There is no 100% capitalist country on Earth, and with the black market, there is no 100% communist country. All fall with varying degrees in between the "goal posts". I have posted links to that effect going back to 1913 and beyond, in the future, I will try to post links with less words and more pictures.
Small taste, sorry not many pictures.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4113.htm
http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/02/11/putin-warns-us-about-socialsm/
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
I didn't vote for Barry and I don't think that he came from a one party system. I don't know how you can think differently and still believe in the greatness of this country. It does explain a bit of the lack of faith around here.
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I don't believe anyone is saying the 2 parties are exactly the same...that is precisely the point of the banker's manifesto...there are differences and it is exactly these small differences that allow the corporations to continue their dominance over both...while the sheeple argue and entertain themselves with the political fighting back and forth, the corporations rub their hands and laugh...
look at wall street reform...the bill, still not passed, does little to fix any of the structural problems...and why...?...because the big banks control both parties and made sure in the end that nothing too damaging would be passed...
i'm not going to claim that obama is exactly the same as newt gingrich or sarah palin in policy...but i am saying that corporate interests will prevail no matter which wins office...look at health care for example...the big winners from obamacare are the insurance companies and big pharma...what a surprise...and obama, mccain, palin, and gingrich all supported the bailouts...so not much difference there...republicans talk a big game on spending and deficits, but they have yet to offer anything in the way of specifics...they will spend the same as Dems, just on different priorities...
i think dylan ratigan said it pretty wel...
http://dailybail.com/home/guest-post-from-msnbcs-dylan-ratigan-corporate-communists-co.html
Dylan Ratigan: Corporate Communists Control (Own) The Economic & Political Structure Of America »
What we have now is a group of politicians with shifting alliances on a case-by-case basis to the special interests who fund them. And currently, the most damaging one to our nation is the rise of the Bankster Party. Thankfully, we can now better identify its members.
http://dailybail.com/home/is-your-senator-a-member-of-the-bankster-party-list.html
http://dailybail.com/home/dylan-ratigan-rant-whether-its-fear-from-the-right-or-guilt.html
as ratigan wrote, the real parties aren't Ds and Rs but the banker's party, the pharma party, the ag subsidies party and the war party...and there is no group that truly represents the people...i plan to vote against all incumbents this fall...i hope others do the same...
Biggest terrorist Barney Cook Book Scam
Fed shifts $4.4 Trillion of toxic debt to...?
The Fed "adjusted" the books for Fannie and Freddie morgage entities by $4.4 Trillion.
These GSE's (Government Sponsored Enterprises), are now considered to be owned by the US Treasury, so does this mean that the debt is now technically made to be a portion of the national debt?
Full article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-gses-%E2%80%93-put-it-balance-sheet
These numbers are not reflected in the yearly budget by the Obama administration.
Remember that the CBO originally said (Sep 2008) that this debt should have been included in the yearly budgets.
More debt for America's children and grandchildren to pay.
This is a terrific discovery. Let's see if any of the lapdog press is awake enough to follow suit. I doubt it.
There is no such thing as "al Qaeda", there is no one on earth who calls himself a member of "al Qaeda". "al Qaeda" is a term made up by the U.S. government to be applied to anyone killed during in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no formal organization. There is no secret terrorist network. What there is a is a phantom enemy, a boogyman that was easily sold to the American people for the benefit of the Bush Administration and their friends at PNAC.
NTIGER1000 Sign Out
BBC: al Qaeda Does Not Exist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mztfFdpd1Rk&feature=player_embedded
As United States Collapses, Media Worships LeBron James
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B_xBWsDpz0&feature=player_embedded#!
Wealthy Reap Rewards While Those Who Work Lose
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/09-2
Article Title…This is a Revolution of the Mind (from Vanilla Sky)…
I would have to read every fifth word of your ramblings, I just dry heaved. Luckily, reading every fifth word of your comments, I saw the word birthers. That piqued my interest to read every four words but then…NOTHING? How disappointing. I was on fire on April 18th, thanks for reposting my comment. You say “all aspects of the Constitution”? I am thinking that this is a lie because you are not at all interested in the Constitutional eligibility of Barry Soetoro (or as you know him…B.O. (think body odor (Savage Nation, I can’t take credit)).
You hate the corporation because you see it as an IT and not a THEY or a WE. Does that mean that you get the warm fuzzies when you think of the government?
You say (pay attention DB)… “Our Founders were very clear on watching corporations, and that experience came from Europe.” I think you meant that our founding fathers were very clear about private banks issuing our currency. They feared that the bankers would “enthrone” the corporations and corruption would spread and permeate the entire system. Corporations do not in and of themselves “aggregate wealth in the hands of the few”. In fact, it enables Joe the Plumber to get a piece of the action. You can argue that they never envisioned the scope and duration of a modern corporation but that would be a waste of your time and mine, even at every tenth word.
Maybe this will help you understand who is really at fault…the government has no bottom line at least corporations have one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvLIxpNlSaA
Gomp says…There is no 100% capitalist country on Earth, and with the black market, there is no 100% communist country.
This is another example of your limited thinking and knowledge. Black market trading is just another form of free market capitalism. The black market trading of a communist country is just capitalism rearing its beautiful head. The black market is often a better reflection of free market capitalism than what we have today, think Prohibition. Prohibition was repealed when capitalism trumped the government’s intrusive behaviors. There are going to be drawbacks to private ownership, corporate ownership, and government ownership. The free market turns into the black market when goods are restricted or forbidden from trading on the open market.
To your points DB…”I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. That is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can re-establish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very distinct curtailment of our liberty.” Calvin Coolidge, State of the Union message, December 3, 1924.
And from one of my favorite movies… What is the answer to 99 out of 100 questions?... Money. Gomp, who originally said that? You must know…
Gomp…you post… "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
This shows a misunderstanding of the term corporatism. I think you (and Mussolini although he might have been trying to bend the truth to his advantage) are mixing up the Latin word “corpus” with the derivation and current meaning of the word corporation. Corporatism takes on many forms which pretty much makes his quote weak spin at best. Keep in mind that Mussolini didn’t much care for German fascism although he was a fascist. I know, too much for a weekend.
DB…Please feel free to post this as an article for your readers.
And for you Kennybot, we are having a nice conversation and you post your crap, fuck off you rucking fetard twat. DB…You can leave that part out of my article if you so wish.
November 2003… http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/1720
The bad news…he is a double dip scenario believer (it might happen, maybe 50-50) or it might already be happening…or is it ONE BIG DIP…
March 2010… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ3-PRx2q6E
He talks about the Tea Party movement, how it troubles him, the hostility to the establishment. That makes me feel good that even the academics are thinking about the Tea Party movement. The thinking that the government has failed us…it is bad for business. We are more damaged than usual.
What would be the trigger??? We guess a lot around here…the housing market…pension fund shortfalls…bond bubble…state and local debt…or worse…
June 2010… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zOWWmTUEpY
The economy is largely psychological.
Home prices…continue to fall…
What is causing the “second thoughts”???
Our tranquility has been disturbed!!! Hmmmmm.
Obama is creating uncertainty, ummmm, YUP.
Mortgage interest deduction, will it go away??? This worry could spell BAD NEWS!!!
Let’s hope Obama doesn’t fall into this hole too.
Obama has got a lot of stimulus left for his (2012) and the Democrat’s (2010) midterm election campaign war chest. When the midterm elections kick into high gear, Obama is going to start blowing his remaining stimulus wad to support mostly failed Democrat incumbents. Obama loves campaigning and having endless billions to shower his people with his pathetic community organizing skills will be his wet dream. The real hope for change grows as dim as his supporters by the day. I can already hear the private Jimmy Buffett concerts. Fuck you Jimmy Buffett.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGimjHcOq-U
How is that hopey changey working for you Captain Tony.
I went down to Captain Tony's to get out of the heat
When I heard a voice call out to me, "Son, come have a seat"
I had to search my memory as I looked into those eyes
Our lives change like the weather but a legend never dies
He said, "I ate the last mango in Paris
Took the last plane out of Saigon
Took the first fast boat to China
And Jimmy, there's still so much to be done.
I had a third world girl in Buzios
With a pistol on each hand
She always kept me covered
As we moved from land to land
I had a damn good run on wall street
With my high fashion model wife
Til I woke up dry beneath the African sky
Just me and my Swiss Army knife
For Jimmy…Maybe the Obama plane is just going to circle the Statue of Liberty for another egomaniacal photo op for his socialist buddies, you stupid fuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-BFZBiWVPQ
That is hilarious, that is exactly half of what I just said, the other spectrum still remains, there is no 100% capitalist country;
There is no 100% capitalist country on Earth, and with the black market, there is no 100% communist country. All fall with varying degrees in between the "goal posts". I have posted links to that effect going back to 1913 and beyond, in the future, I will try to post links with less words and more pictures.
If you believe America is 100% capitalist, then please explain;
Bailouts
Social programs
Unbalanced "free trade"
taxation
Contract law instead of constitutional law
And a general lack of accountability.
Don't worry, I know you will not answer (I could really make the list a hell of a lot longer).
"To your points DB…”I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. That is the chief meaning of freedom. Until we can re-establish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very distinct curtailment of our liberty.” Calvin Coolidge, State of the Union message, December 3, 1924."
I have always stated I do not like taxes.
"I am thinking that this is a lie because you are not at all interested in the Constitutional eligibility of Barry Soetoro (or as you know him…B.O. (think body odor (Savage Nation, I can’t take credit))."
I am very interested, and have seen no proof one way or the other, unfortunately I have seen no "proof", only conjecture, speculation, etc., and this is not a birther site. If anyone had anything real ( and I would love it), why is nothing getting done?
If it is true, which would dispel the myths of both parties, that would be great for pulling the wool away from many eyes to the ownership of our nation, which would be a plus for getting the silent majority activated.
So if you are sitting on the birth certificate, by all means, let me touch it.
By the way, I do surf those sites at times...
"You say (pay attention DB)… “Our Founders were very clear on watching corporations, and that experience came from Europe.” I think you meant that our founding fathers were very clear about private banks issuing our currency. They feared that the bankers would “enthrone” the corporations and corruption would spread and permeate the entire system. Corporations do not in and of themselves “aggregate wealth in the hands of the few”."
I guess you never heard of the East India trading company, or the Hudson Bay company, just as a couple of examples of King chartered Corporations that were really good at exploitation.
In 1773, The Tea Act of 1773 once again inflamed the Northern Radicals although it lowered tea prices. The Radicals were afraid Americans might accept the lower tea prices, which would mean they also accepted the duties (taxation without representation), and put many of the founding fathers out of the business of smuggling tea.
Banks are also corporations, and I am against real person rights for corporations.
"They feared that the bankers would “enthrone” the corporations and corruption would spread and permeate the entire system."
Do tell, how is the system not permeated?
"Gomp…you post… "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini."
Benito's quote, not mine.
"Mussolini didn’t much care for German fascism although he was a fascist. I know, too much for a weekend. "
Yes, and the commies did not get along neither, to many big ego's in the room. The world ain't big enough for all of them.
"And from one of my favorite movies… What is the answer to 99 out of 100 questions?... Money. "
You have already mentioned the movie. The lust for it has destroyed many...
"Iranians are not Persian and Iran is not Persia… "
Iran was part of Persia, the peoples in Iran's lineage go back to Persia. Or should we pretend that the American Indians did not live here.
By the way, I remember the F- 117 and F-22 both as X planes. and there was government waste in the program, and there is always corporate waste as well, just so you know.
Nothing is pure...
DB…As for the Pukelitzer Prize, F Columbia University. I deserve much more to help Gomp out of the darkness of his confused thinking.
So, the point you were making was…
There is no 100% capitalist country on Earth, and with the black market (a form of capitalism), there is no 100% communist country. Hmmmm, Deep Thoughts by Gomp
Do your thoughts tire you out like a mouse on a wheel?
youtube is not admissable in court Gobie, or in your Amerika are you guilty until proven innocent? Gotta do better than that. Heresay conjecture, and speculation do not win the day. Remember, I did not vote for him...
"So, the point you were making was…"
You probably need to reread it all, it is not that difficult. You still never answered the questions, the answers are probably not on your talking points memo's.