This from a wise and alert reader: Deserves prominent post here….
“The Federal Reserve apparently can’t account for $9 trillion in off-balance sheet transactions. When Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Orlando) asked Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman of the Federal Reserve some some very basic questions about where the trillions of dollars that have gone from the Fed’s expanded balance sheet wound up, the I.G. didn’t know. Worse, nobody at the Fed seems to have any idea what the losses on its $2 trillion portfolio really are. ‘I am shocked to find out that nobody at the Federal Reserve is keeping track of anything,’ Grayson says. He then asked Coleman if her agency had done any research into the decision not to save Lehman Brothers, which in his words ‘sent shock waves through the entire financial system.’ Coleman said it had not. ‘What about the $1 trillion plus expansion of the Federal reserve’s balance sheet since last September?’ Grayson asked. ‘We have different connotations,’ Coleman replied. ‘We’re actually conducting a fairly high-level review of the various lending facilities collectively.’ Translation: Nobody at the Fed knows where the money went.” – Source: Money NewsGo online to: http://www.thedailybell.com/bellPage.asp?nid=384&fl
I think we should have other Countries audit our books. Really. think about it.
OUR biggest Creditors!
Let China and Japan BOTH do a completely independent audit. Give ‘em a year. The only conditions necessary would be to make sure they do not collude with each other, and to make certain that they publicly release ALL of the info they find.
I bet they’d do it for free, too.
Why does this remind me of the Government Credit Card scandal? To my knowledge noting happened. Just mark it off. Seems that is way Government does business.
We’re going to be talking QUADRILLION government dollar figures in our lifetime (that’s 24 zeros). We have one of the most corrupt-inefficient governments immaginable. What’s also a joke is how we portray ourselves to the rest of the world as upright and honest. We look at the corruption of African countries and say that could NEVER happen in the good ole USA. Wrong. We see political figures rig and steal elections and think that could NEVER happen here in America. Wrong. All party affiliations aside — we have to do a better job. We shouldn’t allow “No-Bid” contracts (a favorite of the Bush/Cheney era) where we get the short end of the stick and if a congressman crosses the line, send him to prison for 25 years. Break his rice bowl, man. He calls himself a “public servant” — lets see some sacrifice. We never recovered all the money involved in the Oliver North/Iran Contra scandal and people just forgot about it. The Iraq War is a wound in which we are hemmoraging monster sums of money every single day with no assurance that those dollars will be well spent. Again, we have to do better all the way around. The previous Bush administration had the values of the Cosa Nostra and took every opportunity to stick it in and break it off finacially when it came to American revenue/budget dollars. They went to church every Sunday and back to work Monday and ripped us off. Total Phoneys. The Bush/Cheney political slogan should have been: “Pay Up Sucker!!” It’s a tough one… and it may be too late. Unbelievable…
“… conducting a fairly high-level review”???? Let’s see – hmmmmm – the Reserve “misplaced” three times the TOTAL amount of (the admitted) Federal spending in 2008. And when that gets exposed they plan on a “fairly high-level review” to see where it went?
One place I would look would be those trucks in Iraq stuffed with billions of greenbacks being passed out to warlords and politicians by Bush/Cheney and their gang. As Deepthroat said: “Follow the money!”
Our tax dollars at work – again. Is it any wonder that the USA is going bankrupt?