Ben Bernanke Put In His Place – BofA Scandal And HR 1207
Finally, helicopter Ben Bernanke is under scrutiny for the various issues that he and his cronies have orchestrated. Bernanke’s run as the inflation helicopter pilot may soon be over with two key events happening in Washington DC right now.
I do not care how honest any one person is, when $700 billion is being tossed around like a roll of dimes there is sure to be some corruption, and at best, a small amount of fraud.
Though the $700 billion in TARP is now gone, dispersed to banks as backup funding at least there are two representatives in Congress that are helping to track where this money went and understand the dealmaking behind each bailout.
The two congressmen are: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul
Dennis Kucinich helped start the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Bernanke and Paulson’s bailout strategy. What the house has found thus far is astonishing!
Both Bernanke and Paulson coerced Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch on the premise that if Bank of America did not complete the merger, investors would fear the bank was not stable enough to make a purchase.
No matter how you cut it, BofA did not have enough money to buy Merrill. It didn’t particularly want to buy the company but a combination of a firesale price and government interference sealed the deal.
Now, months later, it has been revealed that Bernanke wasn’t the least bit open to letting BofA decide its path with Merrill Lynch..
Fed talking points discovered by the help of a Congressional investigation found this gem right here:
“Of course, it would have negative implications for the System. The market would doubt the judgment of BA’s management and its ability to perform adequate due diligence and manage risks.”
Bloomberg also reports that: Aid from the U.S. government to complete the Merrill deal would “come at a price — both economically and reputationally,” the talking points say.
Congress is just beginning to sort through literally thousands of Fed memos and emails between Bernanke and other sources that may aid Congress in tracking down the TARP money.
While all of the details are sorted there is one more important piece of legislation originally written by Ron Paul. HR 1207 would require an audit of all monetary operations at the Federal Reserve. Currently the Fed is audited once per year, by a private firm, which does not disclose the details of the audit to anyone. Also, “monetary policy operations” (why the Fed was created in the first place, to police monetary policy) are excused from any audit as they are too important to the system. Thus we have no idea how much the Fed has expended or created and we won’t know because the Fed will never voluntarily allow Congressional access to its books.
But a full-scale audit of the Federal Reserve could come in 2010 due to HR 1207. The bill now has a whopping 222 co-sponsors, enough to pass the bill without any new votes which is practically unheardof in Congress. Support for the bill will only continue to grow as more information about BofA and the Federal Reserve is made public.
I can say with 100% certainty that should the Fed be audited it will have to be shut down. We know that the Fed’s actions have been drastic, but we don’t know the extent, and I would imagine we’ll be horrified when it all comes out.
I couldn’t be more happy that Bernanke is finally getting what he deserves. Paulson, Geithner and Bernanke should all be tried for fraud. Unfortunately it is the institution that makes the laws that also enforces them.
