Issues

Strange coalition targets Ben Bernanke By VICTORIA MCGRANE

December 7, 2009 - 11:36am

There’s a strange political cocktail brewing in Washington, one that mixes top conservative strategist Grover Norquist and tea party organizers at FreedomWorks with democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), progressive activists and public interest advocates.

Transpartisan Coalition calls for Hold on Bernanke Reconfirmation until Fed is Audited

December 2, 2009 - 10:25pm

December 3, 2009

Dear Members of the U.S. Senate:

In the last two years, the Federal Reserve Board has lent several trillion dollars to banks and other private companies, financial and non-financial institutions through a series of special lending facilities. The total amount of loans made through facilities exceeds the annual budget of the United States. In addition, it guaranteed trillions of dollars of various assets and also made hundreds of billions of dollars available to several foreign central banks through currency swap arrangements.

Americans Deserve a Transparent Fed: Trillion-dollar interventions in the economy merit scrutiny by taxpayers and their representatives. By Rep. Ron Paul and Sen. Jim Demint

November 19, 2009 - 9:55am

For nearly a century the Federal Reserve has operated in the shadows, away from the prying eyes of Congress, journalists and the American people. Created in 1913, the Fed was given enormous responsibility to protect the value of our currency. Yet in the last 96 years the U.S. dollar has lost more than 95% of its purchasing power. The Fed's unprecedented actions over the past year in attempting to stabilize the financial system have now forced it into the spotlight, and caused millions of people around the country to question the opacity of the Fed's financial transactions.

New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers By Richard Teitelbaum and Hugh Son

November 2, 2009 - 3:14pm

Bloomberg News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking copies of the term sheets related to AIG’s counterparty payments, along with e-mails and the logs of phone calls and meetings among Geithner, Friedman and other New York Fed and AIG officials. The request is pending. Full Story

Fed Must Release Reports on Emergency Bank Loans, Judge Says By Mark Pittman and Karen Gullo

August 25, 2009 - 10:24am

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve must make records about emergency lending to financial institutions public within five days because it failed to convince a judge the documents should be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Full Story