Momentum Mounts for Left-Right Coalition Against Fed Secrecy

05-02-2010 • Afterdowningstreet.org/

“Let's be clear,” Sanders said. “This money does not belong to the Federal Reserve. It belongs to the American people, and the American people have a right to know where their taxpayer dollars are going.” “Since the start of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve has dramatically changed its operating procedures. Instead of simply setting interest rates to influence macroeconomic conditions, it rapidly acquired a wide variety of private assets and extended massive secret bailouts to major financial institutions,” their letter stated. Noting that the Federal Reserve balance sheet expanded to more than $2 trillion, along with implied and explicit backstops to Wall Street firms that could cost even more, the letter writers asked: “Who received the money? Against what collateral? On what terms and conditions? The only way to find out is through a complete audit of the Federal Reserve.” Sanders’ amendment already was endorsed by a wide spectrum of public interest organizations ranging from the 250 organizations united under the umbrella organization Americans for Financial Reform to groups usually aligned with conservative causes, such as Americans for Tax Reform; the Campaign for Liberty; the Citizens Against Government Waste; the Rutherford Institute; the Eagle Forum, Freedomworks and others. Both houses of Congress and two federal courts already are on record in favor of making the Fed disclose the identities of financial institutions that the central bank propped up with more than $2 trillion in hidden loans and guarantees after the economy collapsed in 2008.