Senator Bernie Sanders: Where Did $2 Trillion Go?

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/02/10-14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2009
3:25 PM


CONTACT: Senator Bernie Sanders
Michael Briggs or Will Wiquist [phone]
Sanders: Where Did $2 Trillion Go?


WASHINGTON - February 10 - Senator Bernie Sanders asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to identify the recipients of more than $2 trillion in emergency loans and other federal assistance.

"Taxpayers have no idea where incredibly huge bundles of their money are going," Sanders said. "The secrecy may be legal, but it's not right."

"I've heard hours of discussion on the floor of the Senate about $18 billion in earmarks, but I have not heard one minute of discussion about the appropriateness of who is getting $2 trillion," he added.

The amount that the Federal Reserve has committed is more than triple the separate $700 billion authorized by an emergency Wall Street bailout bill that Congress passed last fall over Sanders' opposition.

Bernanke did not offer specifics during testimony before the House Financial Services Committee today hours after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined a massive $2 trillion plan that he said is needed to stabilize the nation's banking system.

In a February 4 letter to the central bank chairman, Sanders asked Bernanke to identify each business the Federal Reserve assisted in the past two years. The senator also sought details on the type and value of the assistance, the repayment terms, and the rationale for the taxpayer-backed loans.

"Without concrete information it is impossible to know whether these obligations are being made prudently, without conflicts of interest, and on terms that are favorable to the American taxpayer," Sanders wrote in the letter to Bernanke.

"Given the size of these commitments it is incomprehensible that the American people have not received specific details about them. Nor have the American people's elected representatives who are granted the 'power of the purse' under our Constitution been given specific details."

If the Federal Reserve refuses to release the information, Sanders said he will introduce legislation to require them to do so.

For a copy of Sanders' letter to Bernanke, go to link...

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[kenny blankenship]

1. Taxpayer backstop to the financial scam industry - without even OVERSIGHT

is taxation without representation. This is not simply a matter of "Congress' power of the purse" and its injured sense of importance, this is illegitimate process of government.

[Oak2004]

6. Oh, we've had no shortage of "representation"

The only question is exactly who our elected representatives represent.

[terisan]

2. Thankful for Bernie Sanders. nt

[derby378]

3. I'm guessing some of it wound up in Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada

You know, that base that nobody wants to admit even exists.

Funny story, however - weather satellites have picked up these really bizarre contrails emerging from Area 51 and leaving a trail across half the globe in recent years. The name "Aurora" has been bantered about in UFO circles. The current rumor is that the Air Force, in cooperation with the CIA, is prototyping a brand-new jet fighter with a "pulse detonation" engine at the Groom Lake facility, and this Aurora jet can acheive speeds never before thought possible in fixed-wing aircraft.

That, my friends, takes a lot of cold hard cash. And secrecy.

[babylonsister]

9. I've never even heard of this. Must google! or is there info out there?

If not, how do you know?

[derby378]

10. A very brief primer on Aurora

http://users.cihost.com/ata/aircraft.htm

It might be smart to take information about "Aurora" with a grain of salt, but since Area 51 also gave us the U2, the Blackbird, and "stealth" aircraft, I wouldn't be too surprised if Aurora is more than just some interesting hypotheses.

[corpseratemedia]

4. I hope if the Fed doesn't disclose where it went that Sander's legislation passes

because the question about such a massive amount of money will not...ever...go away

[SoCalDem]

5. Bernie, Bernie, Bernie

Looking back, is sooooo 20th Century.. We only look forward, move ahead, move on, etc..rinse & repeat..

How on earth could rich people STAY rich, if the "little people" made them account for all their thievery?

[madrchsod]

7. if it was`t for bernie and dennis the questions would never be asked

[slipslidingaway]

8. K&R, prior requests have been ignored :( n/t

[burrowowl]

11. K&R

Bernie Sanders is the BEST!

[BigBearJohn]

12. Wow. He renews my faith in Congress.

[GeorgeGist]

13. pssst ...

it went to the rich.

[Greyhound]

14. I think it's fairly obvious that it has gone into the quasi-governmental

private enterprise that hold our total worth hostage.

Do you think Bernie would vote in favor of abolishing the Federal Reserve and replacing it with a real government agency? You know, one of those organizations that is actually answerable and responsible to The People.