Fed's Direct Loans To Banks Climb To Record Level

The Federal Reserve's direct loans of cash to commercial banks climbed to the highest level on record in the past week as money-losing lenders increasingly turn to the central bank for funds.

Funds provided through the so-called discount window for banks rose by $2.8 billion to a daily average of $14.4 billion in the week to May 14, the central bank said today in Washington. Separately, the Fed's loans to Wall Street bond dealers rose by $75 million to $16.6 billion.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[sammy333]

Bernanke is a strong and smart agent of the banks in the Federal Government,.. he is given enough power to direct the taxpayer's money back to richest. Well, the sad thing is that nobody represents People's interests. A fox guarding a hen house?

Suggestions:

1) get rid of the FED office and the bank subsidies;

2) jail bank executives involved in dishonest money making schemes (e.g. sub-prime ) ;

3) spend money of education, infrastructure, cancer and other research.

[FZliveson]

Helllooooo....The Federal Reserve Bank is a PRIVATE CORPORATION that makes interest on every dollar in circulation in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, INC.
Wake up. It's not a dream.

[Podewumun]

Our Social Security Trust Fund?
Going, going, gone.
Sumbitches.

[Erdgeist]

It was the Fed who created this mess when Greenspan was handing out cheap money in 2001 in a political move to make the Bush Administration look good. It was essentially a credit economy. And just like the Bush Administration people were encouraged to borrow and spend.

As the bubble grew so did the greed factor of Wall Street. Also, with low interest loans came the commodity market which is normally keep low because of interest rates--say, around 6 to 7%.

All of this is, of course, exacerbated by the policy of free-trade v. fair-trade as more and more good paying jobs are sent overseas in return for service sector jobs (working at Burger King). Economists who believe in the theory of free-trade haven't a leg to stand on. The theory has never worked. It was tried in the 19th century and failed. Paul A. Samuelson, Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor emeritus at MIT, has reassessed the advantages of free-trade. He said that it will do nothing but serious damage to the economy as a whole.

Also, economists are going to have take a look at the "revenue tariff" and selective "protection tariffs" as a way of getting out of a possible depression. Exporting our comparative advantage to Second and Third World nations isn't working for America--it is destroying it. We are becoming Third World, in fact.

[dadw5boys]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MissingAmerica]

If this isn't a bandaid with cheap adhesive, I don't know what is? First, it's not the bankers that need the money -- it's the homeowners. An example. I know one young family that was forced to move because his job took a great deal of commuting and the gas was too expensive. They put their house on the market for $20,000 less than appraised. Then Bush signed into law a $7,000 break for those who purchased either new homes or foreclosures. This left this young couple in the middle. An investor offered them cash -- at $100,000 LESS THAN APPRAISED! They rejected the offer and are praying that something will happen. This is only one example of what people are going under this dismal leadership we've had.

As for the banks, the government bails them out and they don't learn. A tv ad yesterday: "Want to buy a home, but don't have the money? Think you can't afford the payments? We'll help you get into a home with little or no money down. Poor credit? We can work with you. Now you can own the home of your dreams." This is what started this in the first place! He's only giving them enough money to hold them over until they do the same damn thing.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. When do we impeach the fools we have in Washington? When do we put some real leaders in the White House?

[djthedj]

Did this couple pray for Bush to be president too? 75% of Americans either didn't vote or voted for the filthy lying scum that are in power. They deserve to lose everything, they choose to. Anyone with half a brain knew that Bush would do everything in his power to destroy America, it's what republicans do.

[ROBOT8]

IT'S NOT THE FEDS MONEY TO GIVE!!!!!!! IT BELONGS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!!!! GET EXXON TO GIVE THE BANKS THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET HALLIBURTON TO GIVE THEM THE MONEY!!!!!! WE THE PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY GIVEN ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!! OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR OIL AND PROFITS!!!!!!!!!!Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
--Hermann Goering

[January]

I do not understand the Fed chairman's admonition to banks that they should keep a big cushion of cash in the vaults. I thought the Fed threw open its vaults to banks and investment houses so that they would in turn lend more money. Can anyone make sense of what is going on now?

[dadw5boys]

What is going on now is the clean up they don't want you to know about.
90% of those bad loans were investor owned!!!
The investors cover the whole gambit from retirement funds to mutual funds. When the loans were sold to investment banker or namk few if any aduits were made by the investment firms who bought them.
There was COLLUISION between the loan makers and the Property Appraisers in many cases to OVERVALUE the properties so the loans looked great on paper but the values were not there!!!!
Also many of the loans were that were made were illegal but no one was checking so they were packaged for sale in bundles to investment bankers who chose to cut cost and never aduit the loan makers for quality of the loans.
Instead of long drug out court battles and putting many of their FRIENDS IN JAIL the Fed chooses to bail them out

[WIpatriot]

Gosh, no.

[fourex]

Inflation is only 2.6%, keep on printing Ben.

[Earl]

Consumer price index (aka inflation rate) is currently around 4%. However, it does not track "volatile" goods such as food and energy, so corn and gas can jump up 25% and the CPI is too stupid to reflect it. Now go tell your boss that you're happy with a 2.6% raise this year.

[djthedj]

The government does that so that they don't have to raise Social Security benefits. I guess old folks don't eat or use energy....like maybe heat their homes.

[dadw5boys]

Ketsup is a veggie also a source of Carbs and Fat.

Ketsup is all old people need to eat! :)~

[WIpatriot]

Or go to shadowstats for some real data and then go and ask your boss for a 12% raise....