UPDATE: Bank Bailout, 2008-2010 = $16 Trillion
Bill calling for public audits of U.S. Federal Reserve Bank heads to Senate.
Following up on my last column, Banking Scandal AD/OD, in this morning’s news are reports of a bill that passed the U.S. House yesterday, a measure mandating public audits of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The bill was opposed by all the top House leadership of both parties but passed anyway, with strong bi-partisan support. However, it is likely to die in the Democratically controlled Senate, snuffed by the top leadership there.
A weaker bill was passed in 2010, which led to a single audit. As Sen. Bernie Sanders said,
As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world….This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else.
Bailouts have been proceeding at a train-wreck pace since 2010, and the Fed operates in total secrecy, like a kind of priesthood, serving the interests of Wall Street and the financial and banking industries at the expense of the rest of us.
By the way:
$16 Trillion = $52,000 for each and every man, woman, and child in the country.
Personally, I’m outraged about this colossal swindle we’ve all been and are being hit with, and I absolutely refuse to talk about or listen to any complaints about government spending until this insane, massive fraud is seriously addressed. Anyone with the energy to complain about spending on welfare, unemployment, Medicaid, health care, and the like needs to read two things, below, before they utter another word:
- Glen Greenwald, in Salon.com, has an excellent overview article posted today, “Protectors of Wall Street.”
- Neil Barofsky, the Inspector General of the TARP bailout program from 2008 until 2011, has a must-read new book entitled Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.
If you’re the type who believes that things like calling or emailing your senator can make a difference, then today’s the day.
Sen. Charles Schumer
(202) 224-6542
email Chuck
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
(202) 224-4451
email Kirsten
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Previous columns by Mike Williams
Wake Up Call: June 27, 2012
Fracking and Trashing Hemlock Lake
Wake Up Call: June 20, 2012
A Special Place in Hell
Wake Up Call: June 8, 2012
Prisons, Prisons, Everywhere
Wake Up Call: May 28, 2012
Your Tax Dollars at Work
Wake Up Call: May 16, 2012
Who is Jamie Dimon, and Why Should We Care?
Wake Up Call: January 17, 2012
Will The Real “Deadbeat” Please Stand Up?
Wake Up Call: December 22, 2011
End of The Iraq War? NOT!
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