Court Rules Federal Reserve Must Disclose Emergency Loan Details

The Federal Reserve has been ordered to reveal the names of companies that received emergency loans during the financial crisis, after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Bloomberg News. (Check out Bloomberg's full story here.)

Here are the crucial details of Bloomberg's report from earlier this morning:

"The Fed has refused to name the financial firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or the assets put up as collateral under 11 programs, most put in place during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression, saying that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders. "

Of the approximately $2 trillion in Fed assets as of last September, it's unclear just how much of that amount went to the Fed's emergency loan program, which marked an unprecedented entry by the Fed into the mortgage-backed security market. Here's more from Bloomberg:

"The Fed's balance sheet about doubled after lending standards were relaxed in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Sept. 15, 2008. For the week ended Aug. 19, Fed assets rose 2.3 percent to $2.06 trillion as it continued to buy mortgage-backed securities under a program allowing the central bank to purchase non-government securities for the first time."

The Federal Reserve has not announced whether it will appeal the decision. Matthew Goldstein at Reuters, however, doesn't expect that we'll see the details any time soon. Here's Goldstein:

"Remember, the Fed fought against releasing the names of the banks that got an indirect bailout from the federal government's rescue of American International Group. And the Fed has been less then forthcoming in providing information about the $30 billion in ailing assets it took on from Bear Stearns as part of the forced sale of the failing investment bank to JPMorgan Chase."

READ yesterday's ruling below. Notice anything interesting in the below document? Let us know in the comments section.

Bloomberg lawsuit judgment -

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Comments

[ReedYoung]

"The Federal Reserve considers itself to be an independent central bank ..."

[Playin Possum]

I don't buy for a second these high-assed explanations... Privacy... Agreements... HAH! This the people's money. These firms are chartered under Federal law. We have the first right.

Two possibilities:

The regulators are bought and paid for.

The banks are in such piss-poor shape knowing the truth WOULD set off a panic.

Either way it is bad business.

[hopeforchangenow]

This is what is wrong with our tax system. The people who pay their taxes are the middle class. Well, now they don't have jobs and the taxes are not getting paid. If we want to reduce the deficit we should make sure that corporations are taxed. See the following:

This statement appeared in a “News of the Weird” article in the Lansing State Journal in the past couple of months.
"University of Kansas researchers, reporting in April, disclosed that a single tax provision in a 2004 law (allowing U.S. multinational corporations to avoid federal tax on foreign profits) gained a typical company $220 for every $1 the company spent lobbying Congress to enact that provision. Among the big winners was Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company, which disclosed spending $8.5 million to lobby for the law and gaining a tax break of more than $2 billion. (The lobbying emphasized that the lower tax would enable the companies to create more jobs, but the Congressional Research Service found that most of the tax savings went to pay dividends or buy back company stock.)"

This is what is wrong with the tax system - the corporations buy off Washington and we pay for it.

[friendpro]

Everyday it seems like the lib3rals keep back stepping. We make no progress in anything but getting obama elected. Now we get the same rethreads. NO change we can believe in.

good articles 4 slow news day: http://www.iamned.com

When the public demand change if the politicians won't give it to us? ...

[Swaheal]

You should never have to file a lawsuit to receive only monetary information from the Feds. When I request this type of information I send my request to the #1 person in-charge. I quote Articel1 Section 9 of our (late) great Constitution which normally the #1 has sworn to uphold and if he/she does not want to give me this info, then I rquest my Senator/Congressman to uphold this request and too also have the #1 tender a resignation or a damn good reason why not. You'd ALL be surprised how many Hundredsof Millions each and every Federal Department is giving out yearly in "BONUSES" and other "EXTRAS". Last year (2008) I was given 22 pages of "EXTRA"money given to (Just) ONE VA Medical Center employees totally over 7 MILLION. If the citizenship was informed and then Add them ALL up, the total would be into the Billions Extra being given to Administrators and other employees of our nation.

[CulpeperMin]

Clearly, however the Fed is not an agency of government. The Federal Reserve is as Federal as Federal Express.

[viperhawk2k4]

Sorry to correct you . but, Its ART1 SEC. 8.

[FHTB]

Good news...

Did anyone notice the body language, BTW, today between Obama and Bernanke?

ZERO interaction...

Bernanke is the worst...I am really unhappy with Obama allowing this change we can't believe in routine to continue...I DO want health care reform, that's not my beef with him...but this business where Fed is being told to fess up? It should be a warning to Obama that allowing Bernanke to continue in his arrogant ways will not reflect well on you...

[CulpeperMin]

Strap it down folks, Jones strikes in October;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u5Nd9i1UiA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.infowars.com%2Ffall-of-the-republic-exposes-how-brand-obama-is-destroying-america%2F&feature=player_embedded#t=154

[berrycooda]

SHOW US THE MONEY...

Why the big secret anyway. If it is legitimate, then tell us who got the money.
Transparency means we can see through something.
Really can't see through the curtain in Washington as promised.
Again..SHOW US THE MONEY !!!

[Ministerbruce]

Please, if you believe Aps and Money's turned into humans, I'll buy lunch, we just all need to go to the ZOO and sit down and wait, those Aps and Money's, is going to turn into human, youze just wait.

[somsoc]

The District Court Judge sided with the people, which is a rare thing these days. Let us hope that this ruling is upheld by the appellate court.

[GhostofBillHicks]

So Wall Street essentially has taken nearly $3 trillion from us tax-payers.Enough money to pay for everybodies healthcare for 30 YEARS!So when the naysayers say "where's the money going to come from to pay for this healthcare?" My reply would have to be "pull it out of the same orifice that you did for the crooks on Wall Street!"

[Montgriz]

THAT along with half the military budget would pay for healthcare, social security, infrastructure improvements, and a well armed military machine......but not enough money for the greedy...

[jekyll]

If you want to learn the truth about the FED....read "The Creature From Jekyll Island." I recommend it to everyone!

[nomadicexpat]

i dont, it reads like a whack job conspiracy theory missive

[barakagirl]

reality is stranger than fiction sometimes... I think you need to open your horizons and ask where does money come from. Behind the myth there is nothing but glitter. The FED is a dangerous entity that pretends to control monetary supply to prevent busts.....

[hellboundtrain]

You haven't read it have you?
If you had read it you would speak with greater authority on the matter.

Get some more information, man.

[Rule Of Law]

I second this, without reservation.

[blueskybigstar]

Okay, if you recommend it then.

[ac86]

I agree wholeheartedly. That book changed the way I view the world.

[rf-hawaii]

Here you go:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6507136891691870450

[jekyll]

Union Boss just named chairman of NY FED!!!! If your me......you’re shaking your head. You think this is just a bad dream.

[somsoc]

Probably a good thing. Better than another theocratic banker rethug.

[Montgriz]

Bingo....so much for the international Jewish conspiracy.

[theclosetconservative2]

I was never comfortable with the bailouts under Bush. I'm even more disturbed by the Obama administration just printing money and giving it to whoever. It's wrong no matter who does it. They should just vacate the stimulus or else use the reaminder of the money to do something that would really stimulate the economy: like cutting taxes. http://theclosetconservative.com

[blueskybigstar]

We tried that. Reagan did it, it didn't work. Bush did it. It didn't work. What you will find almost invariably that every country with a low tax system are the poorest in the world. Taxes boost the economy because it recycles money back into the economy instead of going to China, it is a savings. Progressive taxes prevent the rich from becoming too powerful and lazy. They are forced to reinvest back in the economy. The number one thing that helps an economy is education. Reagan destroyed our relatively good educational system with the cuts he made to education and the tax cuts that were given from that cut. Every time you cut taxes there is a bubble of money that goes out the window. Reagan's experiment failed with his huge recession during his tenure. The only thing that saved that economy was the raising of the minimum wage and making all residents citizens which added them to the tax base. If we don't learn from history, when will ever learn?

[theclosetconservative2]

A huge recession left over from a generation of Keynsian economic policies. But please. drop the revisionist history. Reagan didn't destroy the education system. That's a teachers' union fantasy. And I'm not going to fight against raising the minimum wage. Just lower the corporate taxes concurrently. Bring foreign investment back to this country and create some jobs. http://theclosetconservative.com

[RTIII]

Your memory is excellent and, apparently, theclosetoconservative2 wasn't paying any attention...
.

[LightningJoe]

So, cutting taxes further is your "solution" to the problem?

Too much FAUX watching, dude.

[Montgriz]

Cutting taxes will only put the country further down the road to resembling Mexico or India where people crap in the streets and people trip over corpses in alleys and only the rich deserve education, or social standing.....On the other hand, I do think Obama and the Dems acted too quickly about the Stimulus money....the projects should have been readily identifiable and funded on their value to the country or the region...now, it seems only to go to the connected, the unions, and the bureaucrats......

[MSaxe]

It's really too bad that Conservativo-Republican Party has one and only one solution for any and every issue: cut taxes.

It doesn't take much intellect to parrot that line if you've bought it. It's kind of nice because you never have to think about anything again. Got a problem, just fill in the blank with "cut taxes".

After a while (like 25 or 30 years) people figure out that all the wealth went one direction only under that policy and there were a lot more problems for all of us.

You can't fool me twice...

[RavenRant]

Recent history has shown, you can fool a Republican again and again and again...

[kbkw54]

Why can the Feds refuse to tell us who received taxpayers money?? Can I refuse to pay taxes like Geithner did?
Where is the transparency ???

[jekyll]

Because they are a private banking cabal with government protection. And I believe that their will be a lot more people refusing to pay taxes in the coming years.

[nomadicexpat]

the fed was set up as an independent organization so that they could be above the political frey. and it works

[jekyll]

It works? LOL!!!!

[vinny]

independent is not the same as private...

[Montgriz]

Or Daschle.....

[viperhawk2k4]

Uh. YES YOU CAN! THERE IS NO LAW THAT SAYS WE HAVE TO PAY INCOME TAXES!!!!!!!