Fed Loaned $16 Trillion to banks and corporations worldwide, says GAO audit

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9E2A4EA8-6E73-4BE2-A753-62060DCBB3C3

The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."

Among the investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. "No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bailout a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president," Sanders said.

COMMENT: Is anyone asking where the $16 Trillion came from? It did not come from any deposits from you or me or even the US government. The Fed created this money out of nothing and loaned it out at interest in order to create an income.

But in so doing, they created $16 Trillion of new money.

If the Fed can create money out of nothing, the US government ought to be able to have that same right. If the government had not given that power to this private bank called the FED, we would not have a national debt today. This is the sacred cow that neither Republicans nor Democrats will even discuss, because both parties are owned by the banking interests.

This whole budget debate is about where the furniture on the Titanic should be located. Almost all of them ignore the real issue, which is nationalizing the Fed.

As for me, I'm "FED UP."