Fed Official Confronted Over Bailout Spending Secrecy (VIDEO)

Where's the bailout money going? If the federal government told you, then banks might stop taking it.

That's the argument made by Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn in this overlooked clip from Tuesday's House Financial Services Committee hearing on the bailout funds.

In response to pointed questioning from Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), Kohn laid out the reasoning.

"I'd be very concerned, Congressman, that if we published the individual names of who was borrowing from us, no one would borrow from us," he said. "The purpose of our borrowing is not to support individual institutions but to support the credit market."

Grayson couldn't believe it. "Has that ever happened? Have people ever said we won't take your $150 billion because people might find out about it?" he asked.

Watch Grayson v. Kohn:

Comments

[realitycheck7]

the big secret is that the money is simply being used to pay the fed the interest that these banks owe to it

the fed is a private corporation and woodrow wilson should rot for what he did

[AKJM]

I saw Ms Huffington this evening on the tube, she says the media is not doing it's job, instead of following the political soap opera, the media should be following the money. She's right.

[uglyhumanbeing]

i'm glad she said that!

[mattamorr]

This is the biggest heist in history!

[TurkerB]

Mr. Kohn's comments are comparable to those voiced by Leona Hemsley's, i.e, 'only the little people' pay taxes.

And to think we pay Mr. Kohn's salary too -- must be nice to be able to 'cop us an atttitude" and get away with it.

[CaptainVideo]

"We" do not pay Mr. Kohn's salary. The Federal Reserve System does not get any money from the U.S. Treasury. The salary of officials of the Fed are paid out of the revenue the Fed earns on its investments. This is intended to protect the Federal Reserve System from political manipulation.

[MyTake]

You think!

Take a look at the photo's at this site http://cryptome.info/bilderberg08/bilderberg08.htm and tell us what you think of Bernanke, as did Greenspan before him, attending a secret Bilderberg meeting where 135 of the most powerful private people on the globe manipulate the Federal Reserve for their benefit.

If that does not shock you into intellectual sobriety, nothing will. Oh, I forgot, this page sets the record straight: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-stevens/barack-obama-the-man-i-k_b_84866.html

[jinxed]

Are we EVER going to make these clowns come clean and tell us who pocketed the money? It was laughable when Kohn was asked if taxpayers would be angry if they knew who got the money and he stumbled around then said No they wouldn't. If that is the case, WHO GOT THE MONEY?

[yappnmutt]

well, in other countries the people take to the streets. in the usa we just let them do whatever the gov't wants with hardly a whimper.

[instagladiator]

To answer your first question - No! You are not because Kohn is within his legal rights, thanks to you government and congress of 1913 (and beyond). Research it.

[AKJM]

Until the first half is accounted for Wall Street shouldn't get the remainder. Why is Obama fighting for this? It seems like the honest persons are in a minuscule minority in Washington, or there is something coming so bad.....

[jinxed]

President Obama wants the money released so he can spend it on Main Street, mortgages and shovel ready jobs. He does not want Wall Street or the banks to receive any more money from TARP because they didn't use it the way they were supposed to. IMHO it is time to call in the IRS and the FBI. The IRS can do a complete audit of ALL banks and the FBI can follow the money thru the laundry service it appears to have gone thru.

[AKJM]

I wish that were the case. This 350B is the remainder of the TARP money and is headed to Wall Street WITHOUT restrictions or limitations else Obama threatens a veto.
The initiatives you talk about are included in his stimulus plan due to be signed in February.

[instagladiator]

None are so blind as those who cannot see.

[JHKH]

They won't tell us that they're stuffing it into their pockets. This suggestion appeared in a letter to my local newspaper, and is brilliant in its simplicity: Give every taxpayer a hefty, meaningful bail-out, say, $50,000 per individual ($100,000 for a couple). The amount should disappear as adjusted gross income reported for 2007 reaches, say, $250,000, so we're not giving everyone this incentive, only the middle to low income taxpayer. I estimate that the total bill will be in the ballpark of Obama's proposed $800 billion stimulus. The beauty of this bottom-up plan is that the money goes straight to the segment of the population that is guaranteed to spend it in some way. They will pay down their debt -- freeing up money to banks to lend more money out, and creating a competitive environment to attract borrowers; or they will pay for college educations, or long-delayed home repairs, or long-neglected health care concerns; or replace the 20yr old heap with a new(er) model. There is an endless list of ways that the middle to lower income populace will put this money into circulation. The initial $350 billion of TARP bailout has disappeared into the untraceable vapor of the world of banking and high finance. They claim they can't track it. So, if Congress, the Fed, and the Treasury Department are unable to manage the money, they might as well give it to us (it is, after all, our money) and let us mismanage it ourselves.

[instagladiator]

You are about 95 years too late for that.

[dryrock]

Re-distribution of wealth - something the Rs always decry, except when its to their benefit.

[BillMelater]

How dare this SOB tell us that we don't need to know where our money went. It's time to end the federal reserve.

[machivellianX]

amen, the looting really has reached a climax, hasn't it. If it wasn't for the fed none of this would be possible.

[instagladiator]

Donald Kohn is within his "legal rights" to say that and there is nothing the government or congress, or you, can do about it. After all, your government, and congress, "gave them" that right in the first place. They' are not about to change it all now because they, too, are reaping the rewards of the fed system (fractional lending).

And everyone laughed at Ron Paul when he wanted to abolish it!!

[CaptainVideo]

Ron Paul is a monetary crank and his supporters are a cult.

(The only exception is that he was right in opposing the war.)

[OB-GYN]

My Fellow Americans. To context Mr. Grayson's outstanding questions, read below. Keep in mind UBS is headed by infamous ex- US senator Phil Graham. Get the connection?

UBS leaps on Credit Suisse merger rumour, central bank action
Sep 18, 2008
GENEVA (AFP) — Shares in Swiss banking giant UBS leapt more than 10 percent Thursday, lifted by central bank action to inject liquidity and rumours that it could merge with fellow Swiss bank Credit Suisse.
UBS was up 10.57 percent at 17.36 Swiss francs in early afternoon deals, while Credit Suisse gained 8.93 percent at 50 francs.
The action by major central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, had "definitely contributed" to the movement," a Zurich-based trader told AFP.
"Banks' share prices had also benefitted from the rumours circulating on a merger between UBS and Credit Suisse," he added, although he said such a merger was unlikely.
"Banks have been so severely punished in the past few days that they are benefiting from the current situation."
UBS stock had lost more than 70 percent of its value since the beginning of the year, with its capitalisation plummeting to around 47.9 billion Swiss francs, a fraction of 178.6 billion a year ago, making it a potential takeover candidate.
The bank is among one of the worst-hit by the subprime crisis, having written down some 42.5 billion dollars on its subprime-related assets since the beginning of the turmoi

[WilliamPilgrim]

As I read on Huffpo many time before before

"Socialize the costs, privatize the profits, its the repuglican way"

[machivellianX]

oh yeah? isn't obama in a rush to squeeze out whatever is left out of the tarp funds? How does that differ from the republicans, Give me a BREAK lamer.

[jinxed]

He [Obama] has no intention of giving corporate [Wall St.] or the banks any more of this money. They already had their chance and they FAILED again. The second half will be spent/lent to get the economy going like the first half should have been.

[EDM]

You can bet that people would have a problem with the institutions involved. It may and probably is, a lot more companies than we know, which would be very bad for the financial system as a whole, as the breadth of the credit default swap market, the credit debt obligation market and the derivative market in general, both public and shadow is huge, on the order of 800 trillion dollars. There has to be a whole lot more players to support that size of a market . If the public knew how widespread and deep the problem is, we'd be looking at a Dow of 3000-4000.

[NotMcCain]

The Bush-Paulsen $350 Billion Scam needs to be thoroughly documented.

[odan]

soon to be the Obama-Geithner scam. We goign to document that farse too.

[instagladiator]

Nope! It will be just like the Gitmo prisoners records chaos (if not worse).

[msjimmied]

Farce...spelling. Please enough of of this Obama/Geithner stuff, they have not even come on the freaking stage yet!!

[NWRICK]

WOW!!
I simply don't know how to respond to that.

[Amennyc]

Doesn't matter. Nothing will happen to those who abused their power. Bush & Co. learned a long time ago, that they can lie to your face, with you knowing its a lie, and still get away with the lie.
The only ones who will pay the price are those who paid their bills on time, kept their debt low, did not consume more than they needed, and were educated enough to read the fine print.