Federal Reserve Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberb

By David Glovin and Bob Van Voris

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Board must disclose documents identifying financial firms that might have collapsed without the largest ever U.S. government bailout, a federal appeals court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that the Fed must release records of the unprecedented $2 trillion U.S. loan program launched primarily after the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The ruling upholds a decision of a lower-court judge, who in August ordered that the information be released.

The Fed had argued that it could withhold the information under an exemption that allows federal agencies to refuse disclosure of “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.”

The U.S. Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, “sets forth no basis for the exemption the Board asks us to read into it,” U.S. Circuit Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote in the opinion. “If the Board believes such an exemption would better serve the national interest, it should ask Congress to amend the statute.”

The opinion may not be the final word in the bid for the documents, which was launched by Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, with a November 2008 lawsuit. The Fed may seek a rehearing or appeal to the full appeals court and eventually petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aUpIaeiWKF2s

[Romulox]

1. Ut oh. This will be politically damaging. nt

[Demeter]

2. Do you really think the public will hear anything?

Only geeks like us who look for this stuff will know. The MSM will shut it out and wave Osama's lifeless corpse again.

And if the public does somehow get a hint, will they know what it means? Or will American Idol do something distracting?

I'd wash my hands of the public, if there was an alternative.

[Romulox]

3. I think the Republicans will have their choice of ammunition in 2010 and 2012

The "public" won't be consuming this information raw--it will be served up in tasty little bites.

[bondwooley]

4. There's also the issue of the black pen ...

One lousy internship I had was "censoring" FOIA documents. Just about anything that goes to far in identifying terms and arrangements etc. can be blacked out by an lowly intern under the direction of a superior - so even if the public does pick up on it, it could easily turn out to have little information in it.

[No Elephants]

11. There is an alternative. Corporations. Just ask the SCOTUS and any politician, from state judge on

up.

The public is almost a quaint irrelevancy. Once you buy enough TV ads and hire enough smart campaign folk, the vote is yours, especially if you're relatively photogenic.

America lucked uot with the Kennedy brothers. Rich, good looking, peresonable, great smiles, tall (except Bobby)--AND brilliant, honest and liberal. Can't count on that combination too often.

I'm sure not expecting Ron Paul to get elected President because of this.

[mbperrin]

5. Good heavens! What is that activist judge thinking? That the taxpayers

have the right to know where their $2 trillion dollars went?!

My gawd, the man's a commie!

We need more like him.

[Jefferson23]

6. Yea for the commie judge!! n/t

[DemoTex]

7. Didn't the ACLU win their court case to have the remaining Abu Ghraib photos released?

How did that work out?

:shrug:

[No Elephants]

12. DOD will release "a substantial number" of photos, probably redacted, due May 28. But, if you

know anyone in the Middle East, you can probably get your hands on all the photos, unredacted.

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/defense-department-release-prisoner-abuse-photos-may-28-response-aclu-lawsuit

Apparently, the national security concern involved is a need to protect our troops from American voters.

Or something like that.

I'm not clear on all the details.


The original request was made in 2003. A court ordered release in September 2009. I wonder why it takes 8 months AFTER a court decision?

:shrug:

[No Elephants]

15. Too late to edit, but the court ordered release in 2008, not 2009. It's 1 yr, 8 mo, not 8 mo.

[Trillo]

8. The Federal Reserve: a "quasi-governmental" agency?

With this release, I guess the emphasis is on quasi-governmental.

Since the advent of electronic money, debit cards, and critical third-party transaction services, it seems there is little to no privacy for little people's monetary transactions. Time for private corporations to play by the same set of rules?

[No Elephants]

13. What does quasi-governmental agency mean, anyway?

The President appoints the head of the Federal Reserve, with approval of the Senate, just as the Constitution requires of ambassadors and Presidential cabinet members.

Why do people doubt that employees are answerable to their employers?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/agent

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/instrumentality

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/agency

[Trillo]

16. private banks at the base of the pyramid

http://books.google.com/books?id=wfbfki5YB0UC&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=%22Federal+Reserve%22+quasi-governmental&source=bl

[cory777]

9. Appeals Court Rules Fed Must Release Loan Reports

Source: NY Times

By ALAN FEUER
Published: March 19, 2010

A federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled on Friday that the Federal Reserve Board must release a trove of secret documents identifying financial firms that received public money under a trillion-dollar emergency loan program put in place at the height of Wall Street meltdown.

The decision affirmed the ruling last summer of a lower court that ordered the Fed to release the same documents.

The federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, found in favor of Bloomberg News, which sued the Fed in November 2008 under the Freedom of Information Act. In a related case, the court ruled in favor of Fox News, which had filed a similar suit against the Fed.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/nyregion/20bloomberg.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[FreakinDJ]

10. Holy Crap - "Accountability" - duck and cover everyone

[No Elephants]

14. Meh. Every time I asked for numbers, my former partner would say,

"Figures lie and liars figure."

IMO, people in banking and other financial industries are very skilled in generating "reports" that obscure at least as much as they reveal.