Bernanke Scolds Congress/Keeps Bailouts Details Secret
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Earlier this week, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke told Congress to basically raise taxes and cut the federal budget. The inference was, if Congress doesn’t get its financial house in order, it will be their fault if the economy tanks. Here is how Bernanke actually said it, “. . . Maintaining the confidence of the public and the financial markets requires policy makers more decisively to put the budget on a sustainable fiscal balance.”
Bernanke also said the federal debt “. . .is already expected to be greater than 70%” of Gross Domestic Product, “. . . at the end of 2012.” And if that is not bad enough, Bernanke said that by 2020, “. . .federal debt would balloon to more than 100% of GDP,” provided taxes are not raised and budgets are not cut. The mainstream media gave this story a great big yawn; but don’t kid yourself, what Bernanke said was a powerful, ominous warning.
All I can say is Ben Bernanke has a huge set of cojones. He is scolding Congress to keep taxes up and spending down to help pay for the gigantic bailout of Wall Street Banks. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is fighting tooth and nail to keep from revealing its secret bailout of the same banks during the financial meltdown in 2008!
The Fed was sued by financial news network Bloomberg two years ago. Bloomberg wants the Fed to reveal which banks received $2 trillion in bailout money and why. Bloomberg won the case and the Fed appealed. Bloomberg, also, won the appeal in March 2010! The precedent setting case would force the Fed to reveal the details of secret bank bailouts–including $500 billion given to foreign financial firms!!
In a Bloomberg story earlier this week, lawyers representing the Federal Reserve (which is made up in part by big U.S. banks) said, “U.S. commercial banks will take their fight against disclosure of Federal Reserve (documents) in 2008 to the Supreme Court if necessary . . .” Lawyers representing the Fed say they are worried that if details of trillions of dollars in bailouts are revealed, it could cause another financial meltdown. General Council for the Fed, Paul Saltzman, says, “Our member banks are very concerned about real-time disclosure of information that could cause a run on the banks.” This is another story, with dire implications, the mainstream media is ignoring. (Click here for the complete Bloomberg story)
So, if the secret slimy deals of the Fed are revealed, people will lose confidence in the banks and want their money? If that is the case, and I think it is, we Americans need to know why the Fed printed up at least $2 trillion and handed it out to their banking syndicate.
I think what Bernanke is really saying is, “America get your finances in order and pay for this Wall Street bailout while we (the Fed) continue to bailout our banking buddies in secret.” (My quote) This will all be paid for eventually, one way or another, by U.S. taxpayers. We should at least find out if we got our money’s worth. Below is Ben Bernanke’s warning about big deficits on Capitol Hill earlier this week:
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About the Author
Greg Hunter
Greg is the producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com. The site’s slogan is “analyzing the news to give you a clear picture of what’s really going on.” The site will keep an eye on the government, your financial interests and cut through the media spin. USAWatchdog.com is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal or Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows.
Bravo-Zulu!
J-dub
Thank you.
Greg
Government lies, cooks the books, and distorts all the facts all the time. We just need to know that government makes no decisions that are in our best interests ever.
Recomended reading: The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin. You might be suprised at just how dirty our shadow government and Fed Reserve has been and still is. This book will educate you with crystal clear facts.
The YouTube clip says it all. If that isn’t the face of a Wall Street slimeball I don’t know what is.
Hey Greg,
Don’t you know, Wall Street and its banks are the center of the universe!
People on Wall Street think that we are in a splendid recovery. After all, gubmint bail-out money has fixed their problems.
Don’t worry about me, the great people that I met at the Tea Party lifted me out of my funk. What a nice group of happy Americans. They all love our country. We did not hear one personal slight, we did not see any inappropriate signs, and we did not leave trash. I think the police enjoyed our presence. They probably got tired of saying “hello” to all who acknowledged them.
markm
Ive got a credible plan, void all debt obligations because they were created illegally without consideration.
Monetize our own bonds interest free, all problems fixed.
By the way Bernanke is right it is our fault, the reason we are subject to the will of a private banking cartel is precisely because the people refuse to take responsibility for themselves, if we continue to say “its their fault” we forever remain powerless.
The moment we say its our fault we are instantly empowered.
Dan,
Interesting thought. Thank you
Greg
Hi Greg –
Good article. The statement “Federal Reserve (which is made up in part by big U.S. Banks) I think needs clarification.
The Federal Reserve is completely independent of the U.S. Government. It is “Federal” in the legal definition of the term “federal” i.e. “of or constituting an institution in which power is distributed between a central authority and a number of constituent territorial units”. It is not Federal in the sense of a part of the U.S. Federal Government. Choosing the title of “Federal” Reserve was meant to be confusing and imply association with the U.S. Government.
The Federal Reserve is a “cartel” of member banks. A cartel is a consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product. The product in this case is the U.S. currency. The independent organizations are the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and the consortium is overseen by the Federal Reserves Board of Governors. The only connection between the U.S. Government and the Federal Reserve is that the President appoints and the Senate confirms the members of the Board of Governors. Although the Chairman of the Board of Governors (Bernanke) reports to Congress, the Congress has no authority in Federal Reserve decisions. Federal Reserve members are not “public officials”; they take no oath of office nor are they elected by the citizens.
The Federal Reserve is tasked with providing full employment and price stability. Unfortunately, “price” stability is not “currency” stability. In 1913, when the Federal Reserve was established, one $20 bill bought 1 ounce of gold. Today, it takes almost 60 $20 bills to buy 1 ounce of gold.
As for Chairman Bernanke, the Fed’s frontman, scolding the Congress, the issue is not what he’s saying, but why he’s saying it, and why’s he saying it now.
Your posts continue to be spot on. Keep up the good fight.
Otter
Otter,
Good info. Thank you!
Greg
if this keeps up, we’ll be using the phrase president paul.
Greg,
Thanks for the ‘heads-up’! This country just seems to be falling more and more into the abyss…
Eli
Eli,
Thank you for the comment.
Greg
it does not do any good to post here
you don’t post them
a wast of my time
greg
Highmountaindrifter,
I have posted all of your comments except one. I will not post comments where you are proposing to hang someone. I let readers of this site pretty much say what they want. I am not going allow this site be a forum for violence against anyone no matter how bad for the country they might be. Thank you for your support.
Greg
greg-
heard you on coast to coast a while back, and thank you for your conscientious journalism.
perhaps the most disturbing element is the secrecy of the fed. this, i believe, is something you’ve pointed out and is true. the “secret bailouts” are the mother of scandals insofar as TARP is concerned, or at least ONE of them. you’d have to put this in at least the top 3 simply for the size of the numbers, about $11 trillion, but again, we don’t know because there’s no public accounting.
the absurdity of today’s world is put into perspective when you consider that enron/andersen is ancient history and the s&l disaster is primitive history.
today’s doings will be forever cited; today makes watergate look quaint. as a former history major it is nothing if not fascinating, but i wish with all my being it would have never happened.
If you’re interested, i write about “EM08” – the economic meltdown of 2008 – fairly regularly now. it’s about all i have left to honor my grandparents who came over with nothing, worked hard and helped build this country.
And the sad thing about EM08? by rough estimation we’re still in the opening act. ahead are more option-arms/alt-as, cre and – the big godzilla in the room – over 30 states now going belly up, matched by local municipalities – it is breathtaking what is going down.
my state – california – in particular is germane to the latter point; depending who you talk to, we’re the 5th or 7th largest economy IN THE WORLD, and we are in ruins. coming up on $50 billion in debt and record deficits – with no end in sight – it begs the question; what happens when california can’t service its bonds?
and la – the #2 market in the world – follows suit; record deficits and debt.
The endgame – which is inevitable – is one that will be the capstone on this american chapter. too bad it will be the innocent who will pay.
but there is a bright spot; i can’t agree with you more about the msm’s utterly disastrous reporting on EM08. however, the blogosphere is WAY ahead of them – that gives me some hope.
never have the stakes been so high; keep going greg and DON’T STOP – we need journalists like you now more than ever.
Lordonlow,
Keep writing! Your grandparents are smiling and I am sure proud of you. Thank you for your support.
Greg
One thing among many that struck me watching the clip of Bernanke is the facial expression of congresswoman Maloney. She was “glazing over” and “nodding off” as he’s qualifying his deficit projections. It’s as if she was saying “This is sooo boring”. It looked like the detail of his statement was way over her head. It fuels the argument that our representatives are not up to the task of protecting the tax payer.