ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured commentary, ALG News Editor Robert Romano’s article is featured in the Ellis County Press.
August 26th, 2009
Usually, one imagines that at the Federal Reserve, the sound that’s heard is the printing presses running at record speeds as the nation attempts to print its way out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Indeed, the Fed has expanded its balance sheet to some $2.06 trillion since the crisis hit in 2007.
But today, one would likely hear a slightly different noise emanating from one particular branch of the Fed in the windswept streets of New York City—that of paper shredders running in overdrive. Why?
On Tuesday, the Southern District Court of New York granted Bloomberg News’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to produce the details of some $2 trillion in emergency loans that were made by the nation’s central bank in 2008.
The court ruled that the Board must comply with the request and produce the relevant documents to Bloomberg. These include who received the $2 trillion of loans, the terms under which they were received, and what collateral was taken by the Reserve branches in exchange for the loans.
To date, the Board has refused, and withheld much of the records—some 231 pages of documents—claiming certain exemptions of the Act. They argued that documents in possession of branches of the Federal Reserve, including the New York Federal Reserve, were not applicable to the request as they were not agencies of the government… continue here.