Fed loaned nearly $2 trillion.(THE LAST WORD)

By now everyone knows that Congress and the White House approved an enormous $700-plus billion package a short time ago and that the Treasury Department is rapidly burning through that mountainous sum and asking for more. What wasn't known until the past few days is that the Federal Reserve has been "lending" hundreds of billions of additional dollars to troubled companies and institutions. In fact, the Fed may have already dished out nearly $2 trillion!

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What is perhaps most outrageous about the latest revelations of these huge bailouts is that the Fed has refused to provide information to the public (the taxpayers who are footing the bill) or their elected representatives as to where all of that money is going, claiming this is "confidential" information. Equally maddening is the fact that Congress has been largely AWOL on the matter; it was Bloomberg News that brought it to light with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the Fed on November 7. Bloomberg's suit is seeking details of the "emergency loans" and the collateral the Fed has accepted as protection against losses.

Aside from Bloomberg, CNN's Lou Dobbs appears to be about the only voice in the major media expressing outrage over the colossal transfer of wealth. On Lou Dobbs' November 10 program, CNN's Lisa Schiavone told Dobbs' audience: "The Federal Reserve tells CNN that about $1.5 trillion in loans have been issued by the Central Bank. It's an extraordinary amount of money, considering the fact that in the summer of 2007, outstanding Fed loans stood at $100 million. But out of concern for the reputations and soundness of the institutions involved, the Fed will not report who is getting the money now and what collateral they're using."

Belatedly, some members of Congress have jumped on board the Bloomberg/CNN hold-the-Fed-accountable bandwagon. "There cannot be accountability in government and in our financial institutions without transparency," Texas Senator John Cornyn said in a November 13 statement. "Many of the financial problems we are facing today are the direct result of too much secrecy and too little accountability." Similarly, Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) sent a letter on November 12 to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appealing for "transparency."

"I strongly urge you to immediately reconsider your decision to deny the Bloomberg News request. The Federal Reserve should know better than anyone that blocking transparency in financial markets will only delay America's economic recovery," Jones concluded. ...