http://market-ticker.org/
And the pooling and servicing agreement, which the borrower's counsel asked to have produced (to prove that all of the other things done were on the "up and up" was allegedly produced in court unexecuted and with the word "DRAFT" emblazoned over the top of it, after an attempt to find it on the SEC's EDGAR website proved fruitless.
DeMartini’s statements also place Bank of America’s outside auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, in a tough spot. The firm has no choice now under U.S. auditing standards but to find out definitively if what DeMartini said is correct, and whether the answer would affect any of its prior audit conclusions. PwC billed Bank of America $128 million for its audit and other services last year. The mortgage at issue in the court ruling was originated in 2006 by Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America bought in 2008.
Auditors have never mattered since ENRON. In fact, basically all of them involved in auditing the financials of banks should be strung up by their nuts by now. How you can possibly argue that an audit opinion has merit after the disclosure of The Fed haircuts on the so-called "assets" pledged for TAF and similar programs at this point is beyond the pale. That is, we now know that banks came to these programs and pledged assets with ten times or more the face value of what they "borrowed" - but then when these loans were repaid those worthless assets (in the opinion of the NY Fed desk) were never recognized at that valuation by anyone ever again. In fact, they're probably still sitting on bank balance sheets - at 95 or even 100 cents on the dollar.
This much I can tell you with certainty - whatever collateral was pledged on 1/21/2009 in the "face" amount of $185 billion for a $15 billion loan was never exposed in a 10K or 10Q as having taken a loss of more than 90%.
Such a loss would have resulted in in the instantaneous detonation of Bank of America. Indeed, that loss is more than half of the firm's enterprise value as of today and exceeds the company's market cap.
That is, it was more than enough to blow them to Mars - and that was one transaction.
While some of those loans were clearly rollovers of earlier ones, and thus the "9 trillion" bandied about is a histrionic distortion (typical of many people in the media and Congress) the fact remains that these programs disclose monstrous hidden losses in the form of worthless collateral that was posted by these institutions and which then disappeared once again into their bowels and has not been seen since.
Showing posts with label Bank Bailouts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bank Bailouts. Show all posts
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Fed Withholds Collateral Data for $885 Billion in Financial-Crisis Loans
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/taxpayer-risk-impossible-to-know-for-some-fed-financial-crisis-programs.html
Something is quite hinky here and if "WE" ay the bill, I do believe "WE" have a right to know what the FED blew it on.
The Federal Reserve withheld details on individual securities pledged as collateral by recipients of $885 billion in central bank loans, denying taxpayers a measure of the risks they faced from its emergency aid.
The central bank yesterday released data on 21,000 transactions from $3.3 trillion in emergency lending to stem the financial crisis. July’s Dodd-Frank law required the Fed to disclose the names of borrowers, the size and interest rates of loans, and “information identifying the types and amounts of collateral pledged or assets transferred.”
For three of the Fed’s six emergency facilities, the central bank released information on groups of collateral it accepted by asset type and rating, without specifying individual securities
The secrecy surrounding Fed bailouts led lawmakers to demand disclosure after the central bank approved aid dwarfing the federal government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Collateral Pledged
The loans extended to primary dealers under the PDCF by the New York Fed were recourse loans, meaning the potential liability of borrowers who defaulted was greater than the value of the collateral pledged, according to the Fed. Primary dealers are the firms authorized to deal in government securities directly with the Fed. At its peak, borrowing under the facility came to about $156 billion.
Something is quite hinky here and if "WE" ay the bill, I do believe "WE" have a right to know what the FED blew it on.
The Federal Reserve withheld details on individual securities pledged as collateral by recipients of $885 billion in central bank loans, denying taxpayers a measure of the risks they faced from its emergency aid.
The central bank yesterday released data on 21,000 transactions from $3.3 trillion in emergency lending to stem the financial crisis. July’s Dodd-Frank law required the Fed to disclose the names of borrowers, the size and interest rates of loans, and “information identifying the types and amounts of collateral pledged or assets transferred.”
For three of the Fed’s six emergency facilities, the central bank released information on groups of collateral it accepted by asset type and rating, without specifying individual securities
The secrecy surrounding Fed bailouts led lawmakers to demand disclosure after the central bank approved aid dwarfing the federal government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Collateral Pledged
The loans extended to primary dealers under the PDCF by the New York Fed were recourse loans, meaning the potential liability of borrowers who defaulted was greater than the value of the collateral pledged, according to the Fed. Primary dealers are the firms authorized to deal in government securities directly with the Fed. At its peak, borrowing under the facility came to about $156 billion.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Watch Inside Job - The Movie
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/watch-inside-job-movie
You gotta watch it kids, to understand what they don't want you to know.
We take a few minutes from our readers' busy time, to recommend they watch the movie Inside Job, which is probably one of the best documentaries on the market crash (this is a completely unsolicited and unpaid recommendation). If nothing else (and there is much else) the key redeeming feature of the movie is the complete obliteration of any credibility that former Fed director Fred Mishkin (and rumored Larry Summers replacement) and current Columbia business school dean Glenn Hubbard may have had.
Below is the official trailer:
You gotta watch it kids, to understand what they don't want you to know.
We take a few minutes from our readers' busy time, to recommend they watch the movie Inside Job, which is probably one of the best documentaries on the market crash (this is a completely unsolicited and unpaid recommendation). If nothing else (and there is much else) the key redeeming feature of the movie is the complete obliteration of any credibility that former Fed director Fred Mishkin (and rumored Larry Summers replacement) and current Columbia business school dean Glenn Hubbard may have had.
Below is the official trailer:
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Homeowner get the boot while banks get the bucks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/29/money-first-questions-later_n_776135.html
Hey, it looks as if someone finally followed a thought all the way through.
Why are we bailing the banks when they don't hold the Mortgage!
Ding Ding Ding!
Damon Silvers has just asked Phyllis Caldwell the 64 thousand dollar question.
And Naturally she couldn't answer it truthfully, so she gave the standard answer of WE don't know!
But really shouldn't she know by now, the banks have actually publicly admitted it.
Did she choose to ignore it, or was Treasury just not listening again, choosing instead to carry on with their own agenda and bailing out their buddies?
During an oversight hearing, Phyllis Caldwell, Treasury's housing rescue chief, acknowledged during questioning that Treasury doesn't know whether mortgage companies and the owners of mortgages are receiving public money under "false pretenses." Treasury is investigating, she said.
The contradiction highlights what many critics of the past two administrations' policies have claimed for some time: they exert overwhelming force when it comes to saving financial institutions, but merely modest assistance when it comes to distressed homeowners.
More than $535 billion in taxpayer money went to firms and toxic assets as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the latest quarterly figures from two federal auditors. About $992 million has gone to homeowners, the same data show.
So taxpayer funds may be going to companies that have no right to it, admitted Caldwell, Treasury's chief homeownership preservation officer.
"How do we know that people who don't have good liens aren't getting public money essentially under the false pretense that they have a good lien?" Silvers asked Caldwell.
"Again, we don't," was her reply. "Our focus at this point has been on..."
Silvers quickly stopped her. "Hold it," he said. "That's the issue." He added that he hoped Treasury "would be diligent" in trying to answer "what's potentially at play -- are servicers and banks getting public money under false pretenses? We ought to try to figure out whether that's true or not," Silvers added.
Caldwell agreed.
Those companies continue to get the money, though. Meanwhile, borrowers are tossed from the program for the same reason -- faulty paperwork.
Hey, it looks as if someone finally followed a thought all the way through.
Why are we bailing the banks when they don't hold the Mortgage!
Ding Ding Ding!
Damon Silvers has just asked Phyllis Caldwell the 64 thousand dollar question.
And Naturally she couldn't answer it truthfully, so she gave the standard answer of WE don't know!
But really shouldn't she know by now, the banks have actually publicly admitted it.
Did she choose to ignore it, or was Treasury just not listening again, choosing instead to carry on with their own agenda and bailing out their buddies?
During an oversight hearing, Phyllis Caldwell, Treasury's housing rescue chief, acknowledged during questioning that Treasury doesn't know whether mortgage companies and the owners of mortgages are receiving public money under "false pretenses." Treasury is investigating, she said.
The contradiction highlights what many critics of the past two administrations' policies have claimed for some time: they exert overwhelming force when it comes to saving financial institutions, but merely modest assistance when it comes to distressed homeowners.
More than $535 billion in taxpayer money went to firms and toxic assets as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the latest quarterly figures from two federal auditors. About $992 million has gone to homeowners, the same data show.
So taxpayer funds may be going to companies that have no right to it, admitted Caldwell, Treasury's chief homeownership preservation officer.
"How do we know that people who don't have good liens aren't getting public money essentially under the false pretense that they have a good lien?" Silvers asked Caldwell.
"Again, we don't," was her reply. "Our focus at this point has been on..."
Silvers quickly stopped her. "Hold it," he said. "That's the issue." He added that he hoped Treasury "would be diligent" in trying to answer "what's potentially at play -- are servicers and banks getting public money under false pretenses? We ought to try to figure out whether that's true or not," Silvers added.
Caldwell agreed.
Those companies continue to get the money, though. Meanwhile, borrowers are tossed from the program for the same reason -- faulty paperwork.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Dollar at Risk of Becoming 'Toxic Waste': Charts
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39828427
14% less buying power in the last 2 months.
When Ben puts out QE2, the dollar won't be worth a plug nickel.
Like I said Ben doesn't give a damn if you eat, as long as the stock market stays green.
"The dollar is being trashed, we've actually had effectively devaluation of about 14 percent in the last two months," Griffiths said.
His view is contrary to that of HSBC foreign exchange strategist David Bloom, who told CNBC that a continuation of the currencies war after the G20 might put pressure on risky assets, causing a flight to safety into the dollar.
The
14% less buying power in the last 2 months.
When Ben puts out QE2, the dollar won't be worth a plug nickel.
Like I said Ben doesn't give a damn if you eat, as long as the stock market stays green.
"The dollar is being trashed, we've actually had effectively devaluation of about 14 percent in the last two months," Griffiths said.
His view is contrary to that of HSBC foreign exchange strategist David Bloom, who told CNBC that a continuation of the currencies war after the G20 might put pressure on risky assets, causing a flight to safety into the dollar.
The
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wall Street Pay: A Record $144 Billion
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704518104575546542463746562-lMyQjAxMTAwMDEwMjExNDIyWj.html
Now ask yourself why these bastards need a bank bail out...again?
Your spending power on the dollar is cut everytime these blood suckers need another bite to stay alive. They live like Kings while that small jar of Skippy you bought last week for $6.00 now rised to $9.00.
That's what their debt on your dollar is doing.
Rather than sucking on this dick, America need to chop it off.
It's time that the finacial industry became just as unemployed as the rest of America!
Pay on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, according to a study conducted by The Wall Street Journal.
Compensation on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, as more than three dozen top banks and securities firms will pay $144 billion in salary and benefits. Elizabeth Rappaport, Bob O'Brien and Neal Lipschutz discuss. Also, Guggenheim Partners's Scott Minerd discusses why he thinks that despite record highs, gold can be expected to rise even higher.
.About three dozen of the top publicly held securities and investment-services firms—which include banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money-management firms and securities exchanges—are set to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, a 4% increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009, according to the survey. Compensation was expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms.
The data showed that revenue was expected to rise at 29 of the 35 firms surveyed, but at a slower pace than pay. Wall Street revenue is expected to rise 3%, to $448 billion from $433 billion, despite a slowdown in some high-profile activities like stock and bond trading.
Overall, Wall Street is expected to pay 32.1% of its revenue to employees, the same as last year, but below the 36% in 2007. Profits,
Now ask yourself why these bastards need a bank bail out...again?
Your spending power on the dollar is cut everytime these blood suckers need another bite to stay alive. They live like Kings while that small jar of Skippy you bought last week for $6.00 now rised to $9.00.
That's what their debt on your dollar is doing.
Rather than sucking on this dick, America need to chop it off.
It's time that the finacial industry became just as unemployed as the rest of America!
Pay on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, according to a study conducted by The Wall Street Journal.
Compensation on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, as more than three dozen top banks and securities firms will pay $144 billion in salary and benefits. Elizabeth Rappaport, Bob O'Brien and Neal Lipschutz discuss. Also, Guggenheim Partners's Scott Minerd discusses why he thinks that despite record highs, gold can be expected to rise even higher.
.About three dozen of the top publicly held securities and investment-services firms—which include banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money-management firms and securities exchanges—are set to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, a 4% increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009, according to the survey. Compensation was expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms.
The data showed that revenue was expected to rise at 29 of the 35 firms surveyed, but at a slower pace than pay. Wall Street revenue is expected to rise 3%, to $448 billion from $433 billion, despite a slowdown in some high-profile activities like stock and bond trading.
Overall, Wall Street is expected to pay 32.1% of its revenue to employees, the same as last year, but below the 36% in 2007. Profits,
Monday, October 11, 2010
Ohio hit hard by foreclosures
http://washingtonindependent.com/100237/ohio-hit-hard-by-foreclosure-now-at-epicenter-of-fraud-crisis
Remember when some of the states tried to keep predatory lending out and the Federal government sued them to make sure that the Banks has the right to go ahead and fleece those states constituents anyway?
Those very same people are now going to investigate the foreclosure mess?
Or Congress is going to investigate and do nothing about it. Just like they did nothing with the revelations the Goldman Sachs was betting against the crap that they were selling to their customers as viable.
The foreclosure situation in the US as well as screwing the investors that bought all of those mortgage backed securities is a crime.
And a criminal investigation should not be done by anyone who helped perpetuate the crime, as well as anyone who helped to cover it up.
So that would leave out Congress as well as the Justice department.
The question is: Just who exactly can be trusted without bias to really investigate what can only be envisioned now as racketeering?
“I’ve seen the foreclosure issue go from predatory loans, to subprime loans, to predatory loans, to an economic situation where folks have been laid off,” Jones explains. “And now we’re back to problems with paperwork.”
Ohio — and especially Cleveland — was hit earlier and worse by the foreclosure crisis than other states, due to widespread problems with predatory lending, an early economic downturn stemming from the loss of manufacturing jobs, and weak consumer-protection laws. Now, it is at the forefront of the foreclosure fraud crisis, with housing advocates and politicians calling for banks to halt evictions immediately and stop seizing homes.
Remember when some of the states tried to keep predatory lending out and the Federal government sued them to make sure that the Banks has the right to go ahead and fleece those states constituents anyway?
Those very same people are now going to investigate the foreclosure mess?
Or Congress is going to investigate and do nothing about it. Just like they did nothing with the revelations the Goldman Sachs was betting against the crap that they were selling to their customers as viable.
The foreclosure situation in the US as well as screwing the investors that bought all of those mortgage backed securities is a crime.
And a criminal investigation should not be done by anyone who helped perpetuate the crime, as well as anyone who helped to cover it up.
So that would leave out Congress as well as the Justice department.
The question is: Just who exactly can be trusted without bias to really investigate what can only be envisioned now as racketeering?
“I’ve seen the foreclosure issue go from predatory loans, to subprime loans, to predatory loans, to an economic situation where folks have been laid off,” Jones explains. “And now we’re back to problems with paperwork.”
Ohio — and especially Cleveland — was hit earlier and worse by the foreclosure crisis than other states, due to widespread problems with predatory lending, an early economic downturn stemming from the loss of manufacturing jobs, and weak consumer-protection laws. Now, it is at the forefront of the foreclosure fraud crisis, with housing advocates and politicians calling for banks to halt evictions immediately and stop seizing homes.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Banks' $4 trillion debts are 'Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery', warns IMF
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8043800/Banks-4-trillion-debts-are-Achilles-heel-of-the-economic-recovery-warns-IMF.html
rolled over means refinanced with the due interst being added to make the principal just that much larger, so that "WE" the "PEOPLE" of the world
will have to continue to pay that debt at a higher cost.
Naturally the "Banks" will be rewarded handsomely for all the fees that they will garner from having to bail them out again.
The financial system is broken. It's now time to go tell them to f@ck themselves. They created this mess and it not "OUR" problem to pay for it.
We've already done that in spades and the proof is in the pudding, it does not work.
We are only burying "OUR" own countries in that much more debt by catering to the "banks" needs
Lenders across Europe and the US are facing a $4 trillion refinancing hurdle in the coming 24 months and many still need to recapitalise, the Washington-based organisation said in its Global Financial Stability Report. Governments will have to inject fresh equity into banks – particularly in Spain, Germany and the US – as well as prop up their funding structures by extending emergency support.
“Progress toward global financial stability has experienced a setback since April ... [due to] the recent turmoil in sovereign debt markets,” the IMF said. “The global financial system is still in a period of significant uncertainty and remains the Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery.”
Although banks have recognised all but $550bn of the $2.2 trillion of bad debts the IMF estimates needed to be written off between 2007 and 2010, they are still facing a looming funding shock that will need state support. “Nearly $4 trillion of bank debt will need to be rolled over in the next 24 months,” the report
rolled over means refinanced with the due interst being added to make the principal just that much larger, so that "WE" the "PEOPLE" of the world
will have to continue to pay that debt at a higher cost.
Naturally the "Banks" will be rewarded handsomely for all the fees that they will garner from having to bail them out again.
The financial system is broken. It's now time to go tell them to f@ck themselves. They created this mess and it not "OUR" problem to pay for it.
We've already done that in spades and the proof is in the pudding, it does not work.
We are only burying "OUR" own countries in that much more debt by catering to the "banks" needs
Lenders across Europe and the US are facing a $4 trillion refinancing hurdle in the coming 24 months and many still need to recapitalise, the Washington-based organisation said in its Global Financial Stability Report. Governments will have to inject fresh equity into banks – particularly in Spain, Germany and the US – as well as prop up their funding structures by extending emergency support.
“Progress toward global financial stability has experienced a setback since April ... [due to] the recent turmoil in sovereign debt markets,” the IMF said. “The global financial system is still in a period of significant uncertainty and remains the Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery.”
Although banks have recognised all but $550bn of the $2.2 trillion of bad debts the IMF estimates needed to be written off between 2007 and 2010, they are still facing a looming funding shock that will need state support. “Nearly $4 trillion of bank debt will need to be rolled over in the next 24 months,” the report
Monday, October 4, 2010
Banks may ask for more cash to plug £750bn funding gap, says thinktank
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/04/bailout-banks-likely-further-funding
This continues to be a world wide problem, that is only getting worse.
Britain's banks may soon demand a further bailout from the public purse despite £1.2tn already being put at risk to prop up the system, a leading economic thinktank warns today.
The New Economics Foundation said the government needs to do more to address the borrowing requirements of the high-street banks, which still rely on funding from the Bank of England two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Many of the emergency funding schemes put in place during the crisis run out by the end of 2012, which means that banks need to find or replace £750bn of funding.
NEF calculates that the banks will need to raise £25bn a month – up from £12bn a month now – to plug the funding gap. If they cannot, they may need more help from the government to keep operating.
"We believe the public sector is likely, once again, to be asked to bail out the banks for the emerging funding gap," the foundation said
This continues to be a world wide problem, that is only getting worse.
Britain's banks may soon demand a further bailout from the public purse despite £1.2tn already being put at risk to prop up the system, a leading economic thinktank warns today.
The New Economics Foundation said the government needs to do more to address the borrowing requirements of the high-street banks, which still rely on funding from the Bank of England two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Many of the emergency funding schemes put in place during the crisis run out by the end of 2012, which means that banks need to find or replace £750bn of funding.
NEF calculates that the banks will need to raise £25bn a month – up from £12bn a month now – to plug the funding gap. If they cannot, they may need more help from the government to keep operating.
"We believe the public sector is likely, once again, to be asked to bail out the banks for the emerging funding gap," the foundation said
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Senate votes 96-0 to audit Fed
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/11/93918/96-0-vote-congress-opens-federal.html
Oh not a complete audit lol, that might actually show you why this calamity started in the first place.
The FED only wants to show you what they did to fix it because there is a built in excuse, that they had to do everything and anything to keep floating this dead fish of a financial system.
No crime here, WE just didn't know.......right lol
The Senate voted 96 to 0 Tuesday to open the secretive Federal Reserve Board's emergency lending practices to a congressional audit, as well as require a detailed disclosure of who's getting the funds.
"We are on the verge of lifting the veil of secrecy on perhaps the most important government agency in the United States of America,” said amendment sponsor Sen. Bernard Sanders, Ind.-Vt., "an agency which has control and spends trillions of dollars. They do it behind closed doors."
Under the plan, Congress' Government Accountability Office would conduct "a top to bottom audit of all the Federal Reserve's emergency activities" since the economic crisis began in December, 2007. In addition, the Fed would have to put on its web site all recipients of money from than $2 trillion in emergency aid that the Fed has dispersed since then.
The audit is the Senate's latest change to legislation that would overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system, making it easier for the government to break up ailing banks and provide a strong, independent consumer agency to help people with credit questions and problems.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/11/93918/96-0-vote-congress-opens-federal.html#ixzz0ndxumYSM
Oh not a complete audit lol, that might actually show you why this calamity started in the first place.
The FED only wants to show you what they did to fix it because there is a built in excuse, that they had to do everything and anything to keep floating this dead fish of a financial system.
No crime here, WE just didn't know.......right lol
The Senate voted 96 to 0 Tuesday to open the secretive Federal Reserve Board's emergency lending practices to a congressional audit, as well as require a detailed disclosure of who's getting the funds.
"We are on the verge of lifting the veil of secrecy on perhaps the most important government agency in the United States of America,” said amendment sponsor Sen. Bernard Sanders, Ind.-Vt., "an agency which has control and spends trillions of dollars. They do it behind closed doors."
Under the plan, Congress' Government Accountability Office would conduct "a top to bottom audit of all the Federal Reserve's emergency activities" since the economic crisis began in December, 2007. In addition, the Fed would have to put on its web site all recipients of money from than $2 trillion in emergency aid that the Fed has dispersed since then.
The audit is the Senate's latest change to legislation that would overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system, making it easier for the government to break up ailing banks and provide a strong, independent consumer agency to help people with credit questions and problems.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/11/93918/96-0-vote-congress-opens-federal.html#ixzz0ndxumYSM
Friday, March 19, 2010
Court orders Fed to release bailout documents
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Court-orders-Fed-to-release-rb-4001267651.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=
I can't wait to see this. As a concerned taxpayer I believe "WE" do have the right to know just exactly which banks we were bailing out.
Dime to a dollar says they all weren't American.
In a significant victory for news media, a federal appeals court said the Federal Reserve must disclose records on emergency lending programs to banks bailed out by the government in the financial crisis.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the Fed to release details of programs it adopted starting in late 2007 to shore up the financial system and forestall a complete meltdown of global financial markets.
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, and News Corp's Fox News Network sought details of the central bank's actions under the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which requires government agencies to make documents public.
The Fed argued against disclosure, citing an exemption that it said lets federal agencies keep secret various trade secrets and commercial or financial information.
It also said allowing disclosure of participants in the programs and the collateral they posted could cause "competitive and reputational harm," perhaps triggering bank runs, and impede the central bank's ability "to effectively manage the current, and any future, financial crisis."
Writing for a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs said, however, that to give the Fed power to deny disclosure because it thinks it best to do so "would undermine the basic policy that disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective of.
"If the Board believes such an exemption would better serve the national interest," he added, "it should ask
I can't wait to see this. As a concerned taxpayer I believe "WE" do have the right to know just exactly which banks we were bailing out.
Dime to a dollar says they all weren't American.
In a significant victory for news media, a federal appeals court said the Federal Reserve must disclose records on emergency lending programs to banks bailed out by the government in the financial crisis.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the Fed to release details of programs it adopted starting in late 2007 to shore up the financial system and forestall a complete meltdown of global financial markets.
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, and News Corp's Fox News Network sought details of the central bank's actions under the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which requires government agencies to make documents public.
The Fed argued against disclosure, citing an exemption that it said lets federal agencies keep secret various trade secrets and commercial or financial information.
It also said allowing disclosure of participants in the programs and the collateral they posted could cause "competitive and reputational harm," perhaps triggering bank runs, and impede the central bank's ability "to effectively manage the current, and any future, financial crisis."
Writing for a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs said, however, that to give the Fed power to deny disclosure because it thinks it best to do so "would undermine the basic policy that disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective of.
"If the Board believes such an exemption would better serve the national interest," he added, "it should ask
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
AIG Trading Partners Squeeze Insurer Before Bailout
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=atPG852RVX3Y
The whole truth and nothing but the truth makes for a very interesting story
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA extracted about $11.4 billion from American International Group Inc. before the insurer’s collapse as the firms demanded to hold cash against losses on mortgage-linked securities, according to regulatory filings.
Goldman Sachs got $5.9 billion and Societe Generale received $5.5 billion of about $18.5 billion in collateral paid by AIG in the 15 months before the September bailout. The payments helped settle AIG’s obligations on $62.1 billion of credit-default swaps that the Federal Reserve later removed from the New York-based insurer as part of the rescue. Officials at AIG, Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale declined to comment.
“When counterparties see trouble coming, they’ll do everything they can to get their money back, even if it means the death of the other firm,” said William Cohan, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. investment banker and author of “House of Cards,” about the financial crisis.
President Barack Obama proposed an overhaul in regulations last week to prevent the failure of systemically important institutions such as AIG, which needed a $182.5 billion government rescue to stave off bankruptcy. Banks that bought swaps as protection against losses on mortgage-linked assets demanded cash collateral as the market value of the securities plunged last year, overwhelming AIG’s ability to pay.
“It was precisely that drain of liquidity to Goldman and SocGen that put AIG in a position of illiquidity and ultimately threw them into the government’s arms,” said Charles Calomiris, a finance professor at Columbia Business School in New York.
The whole truth and nothing but the truth makes for a very interesting story
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA extracted about $11.4 billion from American International Group Inc. before the insurer’s collapse as the firms demanded to hold cash against losses on mortgage-linked securities, according to regulatory filings.
Goldman Sachs got $5.9 billion and Societe Generale received $5.5 billion of about $18.5 billion in collateral paid by AIG in the 15 months before the September bailout. The payments helped settle AIG’s obligations on $62.1 billion of credit-default swaps that the Federal Reserve later removed from the New York-based insurer as part of the rescue. Officials at AIG, Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale declined to comment.
“When counterparties see trouble coming, they’ll do everything they can to get their money back, even if it means the death of the other firm,” said William Cohan, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. investment banker and author of “House of Cards,” about the financial crisis.
President Barack Obama proposed an overhaul in regulations last week to prevent the failure of systemically important institutions such as AIG, which needed a $182.5 billion government rescue to stave off bankruptcy. Banks that bought swaps as protection against losses on mortgage-linked assets demanded cash collateral as the market value of the securities plunged last year, overwhelming AIG’s ability to pay.
“It was precisely that drain of liquidity to Goldman and SocGen that put AIG in a position of illiquidity and ultimately threw them into the government’s arms,” said Charles Calomiris, a finance professor at Columbia Business School in New York.
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