Bail-out Bombshell: Fed "Emergency" Bank Rescue Totaled $29 Trillion Over Three Years

There is a post on Alternet titled, "Bail-out Bombshell: Fed "Emergency" Bank Rescue Totaled $29 Trillion Over Three Years". I will get to that later since it shows how the US Government has totally abandoned "Main Street" for the interests of "Wall Street".

My partner commented on this by saying, "They hid this to cover up the fact EVERYTHING they have done in the last 40 years has been a mistake.".

I countered by saying, "The issue is they do not see it as a mistake -- they are just proving they don't give a damn about us. We are unimportant, as long as we buy "stuff". It does not matter if WE are buried in debt. It doesn't matter if we are stupid, ignorant, uneducated -- as long as we can CONSUME. If some of us fail, lose our homes, our ability to pay, to buy -- it does not matter. Ther's always another group of well indoctrinated drones to replace us. They don't give a damn if we die."

Unfortunately, I'm afraid "they", the rich, the 1%, the wealthy plutocrats, and those who live off their crumbs and crimes, are doing what every group of "elites" has always done -- they are running the risk of killing the most prolific Goose that ever laid a "golden egg".

FDR, the man hated by "true capitalists", the man reviled as a "traitor to his class" (notice how "those folks" don't consider putting THEIR needs above others "class warfare"), actually saved their bacon at a time when the mood in the country favored far more left wing "remedies".

That gets totally forgotten by so many of our current "historians" -- it's time to revise our "history" to include what really happened -- not the current right wing "wet dream" version.

This from Alternet - please follow link to read the entire article.
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While the 99% suffered hardship, a new study shows that the Fed propped up buddies in the banking industry and a vast shadow banking system far beyond what anyone has guessed.
December 15, 2011 |

Speculation about the the Fed’s actions during the financial crisis has made headlines on and off again over the last several years. The latest drama occurred on November 27 when Bloomberg published an article, “Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion Undisclosed to Congress," which gives an account of the news agency’s struggle to bring to light the details of the Fed’s emergency programs. Bloomberg throws out some very large numbers, revealing that as of March 2009, the Fed lent, spent, or committed $7.77 trillion worth of aid to the financial system and that banks used the low interest rates charged on these loans to make an estimated $13 billion in income.

On December 6, the Fed struck back, issuing a four page unsigned memo intended to correct recent “egregious errors and mistakes” found in various reports of its emergency lending facilities. The Fed argues that the “total credit outstanding under liquidity programs was never more than about $1.5 trillion.” While Bloomberg wasn’t mentioned explicitly in the Fed memo, it was fairly clear to whom the response was directed. The following day Bloomberg defended its reporting, and the Wall Street Journal’s David Wessel came to the Fed’s defense, characterizing Bloomberg’s methodology as a “great story,” but ultimately not “true.”

All this may sound like controversy, but it’s little more than a tempest in a teacup.

Here’s the hurricane: In reality, no less than $29.616 trillion is the total emergency assistance provided by the Fed to foreign and domestic entities during the Global Financial Crisis. Let’s repeat that: $29 trillion. This astounding number is over twice U.S. gross domestic product, the nominal value of all goods and services produced for the year 2010. This is the total of the bailout as calculated by Nicola Matthews and myself as part of the Ford Foundation project, A Research And Policy Dialogue Project On Improving Governance Of The Government Safety Net In Financial Crisis. We will be presenting the results of our analysis in a series of papers published by the Levy Economics Institute, the first of which, “29,000,000,000,000: A Detailed Look at the Fed’s Bailout by Funding Facility and Recipient,” is already available here. ......................................... there is a lot more - please follow link.