And, unsurprisingly, it's the goddamned BANKSTERS:
In a testy exchange at a hearing before the Senate Budget Committee, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who usually votes with the Democrats, said he found it "unacceptable" that the central bank risked taxpayer money without detailing where the funds went.
"My question to you is, will you tell the American people to whom you lent $2.2 trillion of their dollars?" Sanders asked, referring to the size of the Fed's balance sheet.
Bernanke responded that the Fed explains the various lending programs on its website, and details the terms and collateral requirements.
When Sanders pressed on whether Bernanke would name the firms that borrowed from the Fed, the central bank chairman replied, "No," and started to say that doing so risked stigmatizing banks and discouraging them from borrowing from the central bank.
Think you could borrow money from a bank without saying what you were going to do with it? Well, apparently when banks borrow from you they don't feel the same need to say how the money is spent.
After receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending it. Some won't even talk about it.
"We're choosing not to disclose that," said Kevin Heine, spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion.
Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money, said that while some of the money was lent, some was not, and the bank has not given any accounting of exactly how the money is being used.
"We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to," Kelly said.
The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?
i don't think he thinks he's above things wes...i watched the whole back-and-forth live and bernanke acknowledged 'more' transparency was needed....when sanders had the mic, he came out swinging...bernanke seemed to have answered short and concise so as to not rile sanders up more than he already was...and when bernanke answered no to sanders request of revealing the recipients, sanders looked miffed.
at the end of the day, i understand the 'laymens' interest in wanting to get full disclosure on who got what and when and how and such...bernanke's role is to get the capital markets flowing again...revealing the names won't be productive at this stage.
When Bernanke loses his fight against the FOIA request in court he will be shown to be the feckless egghead academic he really is. Guy's a fucking doofus.
I've never met a retarded person who wasn't smiling.