Where's Our Money?

Last week, Ron Paul and I sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee about the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke.

Before he is reconfirmed for a second term, we think the Senate and American public should know who got the $2 trillion the Federal Reserve has lent out over the last two years. Only then will the Senate be able to judge whether he should keep his job.

It's important that the Senate hear from you. That's why we've launched UnmaskTheFed.com, an easy online tool to let you contact your Senators.

Visit UnmaskTheFed.com and ask your Senators to vote NO on Ben Bernanke's confirmation until the Federal Reserve comes clean on what it has done with OUR money.

It would simply be unreasonable for the Committee to confirm Bernanke to another term given how little is known about what he has actually done. Remember, Ben Bernanke didn't see the crisis coming and has added $1.2 trillion to the Fed's balance sheet through covert bailouts.

The Senate cannot hope to have a full debate over his record if nothing is public. That's why I'm asking them to refuse to move forward until Bernanke releases the following:

1. Information that Bloomberg reporter Mark Pittman has requested via a Freedom of Information Act Request on the Bear Stearns rescue and that the Federal Reserve is contesting in the courts.

2. Information I requested in February on which institutions received the additional $1.2 trillion, how much each institution received, and what was promised in return.

3. All Federal Reserve documents that went to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office relating to the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch merger in which potentially illegal and coercive activity might have occurred, as well as all Federal Reserve documents relating to the lawsuit pursued by Merrill Lynch shareholders in the US District court for the Southern District of New York.

4. Transcripts of all Open Market Meeting Minutes up to and including that of September, 2009.

5. Full disclosure of all terms and conditions of all off-balance sheet Fed transactions in the past three years.

It's the Senate's responsibility under the Constitution to properly question and debate any of the President's nominees. Without these documents, I don't see any way they can live up to that responsibility. Help me make sure they do.

We deserve to know what the Fed did with OUR money. Visit UnmaskTheFed.com and tell your Senators to vote NO on Ben Bernanke's confirmation until the Fed comes clean.

Comments

[dbailey]

I'm in. You're fighting for us so we'll back what you need. Like many families mine is struggling too. I have a job but there are 3 people in my family that do not. I applied for a hardship loan from my 401k but the tax penalty on that is about 38%. 38% tax on my hardship! how low can you go when you tax someones hardship! But yet, all the big bailed out corporations get to keep borrowing at what? 1/ 2 percent? They get to borrow my tax dollars at 0-1/2 percent but I get to borrow my OWN money at 38%. All of America needs an overhaul. We need to begin again. I say starting with a whole new consitution. This isn't the 1700's anymore

[sposton]

Where is our money? On Wall Street roulette! If they win they keep the loot, if they lose you suckers pay. ;-)

[Kenny2k]

A quote by Woodrow Wilson about the FED, soon after signing into law the Federal Reserve Act.
"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.
A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit.
Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation,
therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.
We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely
controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world.
No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by
conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by
the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."

[fallingsky]

Mr Grayson,,,, Seems that a video has surfaced where Robert Reich comes out in very vitriolic terms saying that people should die ,,,,,

[seawolf77]

George W Bush is circling the globe as we speak telling everyone that we saved all the rich people from going broke by giving them all the money. And everyone in the audience is nodding and clapping, thankful they have men of the caliber of W to lead.

[Vxx]

What an interesting duo you and Mr. Paul must make :)

Good luck to you in trying to shine a spotlight on the elusive goblins of the Fed.

[EbonBear]

Rep. Grayson, I don't have anything to say on teh financial issue because I'll be the first to admit that I can't follow it. I just wanted to congratulate you on actually fighting back aggressively against the Republican smears. Keep on keepin' on, sir.

[ncmom54]

Because of your honorable efforts ... consider it done.

[vascopyjama]

Big Business believes Bernanke is doing a good job just like Greenspan did. Keep interest rates low so the banks can get the taxpayers money for next to nothing. Then charge borrowers like us a fortune to get some of our own money back. Both Bernanke and Greenspan should be charged with treason for helping to destroy the country.

[Marnie1]

Bernanke and Greenspan should be in front of a grand jury, expalining how the manipulated the economy to siphon off trillions of Americans life savings into their own pockey ts.

Why is this walking financial crash designer even being considered for renomination?

[Hiphopcrates]

I'm with you Alan!

[frodo19v]

Thank you, Alan Grayson and Ron Paul. In addition to the very pertinent issues you mention above, I would also love to see some accountability legislation put in place, so that when Bernanke leaves the post, this mess that he helped create lands him not in the Cayman Islands, but somewhere much less sunny. You both, and a handful of others (the list is slowly growing, thank the stars), are a beacon in the night - now it's up to us all to keep that torch lit, bright, and blindingly fair. Thanks you again.

[wilinot]

Thank you Alan Grayson. I'm from Florida. I'll go fill out the petition now. Grayson is a hero of mine.

[veracity]

Thank you, Rep. Grayson, for being the most visibly vocal, if not outspokenly populist, member of Congress demanding overisight of both our finanicial system and a health care system not based on the "business model" of denying coverage or health-care to those who most need it.

I would hope you would get together with TARP oversight Chairwoman Elizabeth Warren, who has been explaining for months now, to anyone who will listen, that the "bailout" funds have minimal oversight.... if not that they are blatantly rewarding bad behaviour.

Krugman, Stiglitz, Robert Reich, Dean Baker
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/a-trillion-dollars-for-th_b_183493.html
William K. Black (former oversight regulator of the S&L debacle and subsequent bailouts
(then called the Resolution Trust Corporation)
http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/blabes.html

.... since the Bush II financial meltdown & economic crisis is almost a verbatim repeat of the S&L debacle and Bush-1 Recession,
(complete with "DEREGULATION" of first the Savigns & Loans in the late 1980s, followed by deregulation of the ENTIRE financial markets in the late 1990s),
it would be nice if American taxpayers could get _some_ aggressive, competent regulators and financial oversight for all our billions (over 20 rillion dollars according to some reports)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aY0tX8UysIaM
of taxpayer bailout dollars....

[ncmom54]

great post - fanned

[venusvictrix]

I'd give good odds that if we ever do trace the money that most of it went to prop up private hedge funds in the Cayman Islands . . . . similar to the two Bear Stearns funds that did collapse.

Reps Grayson AND Paul: thank you for taking a stand. You both offer the kind of leadership that truly offers hope for America’s future.

Now excuse me while I sign the petition and forward it to everyone in my contacts list.