As many readers recall, Congress “rolled over” like dead dogs last Autumn when it was bullied by then-Treasury Secretary Paulson into passing the first of what has become a series of mega-bailouts for Paulson’s Wall Street cronies who caused the current financial crisis with reckless derivative “investments” of all kinds. The Congress meekly submitted to Paulson’s demands last Autumn, and, essentially, ceded control of the public purse to the Treasury Dept., the Federal Reserve Board, Goldman Sachs, etc. A USA Today article recently offered much detail about a Congressional Hearing in which Paulson was grilled by an angry Congressional Committee about what Paulson did when he apparently hoodwinked the Congress into giving Paulson extraordinary powers. Now, Treasury Secretary Geithner, a former chief executive of the Federal Reserve Board wields those powers.
Paulson was grilled over the nature of the heavy pressure he put on Bank of America’s CEO and Board to take over Merrill Lynch even though it wanted to back out of the deal. New York’s Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, wrote Congress that “Paulson told him he made the threat [to replace Bank of America’s CEO and Board by government diktat] at Bernanke’s request.” Fed Chairman Bernanke denies this. Paulson said he “had no recollection” about this conversation with Bernanke. That’s about as close as you can come to “taking the 5th amendment” as you can without actually doing so. Here is a sampling of the bipartisan anger directed at Paulson by Congress.
“I don’t think anyone’s buying what you’re saying”….Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)
“You kept the [SEC and the Comptroller of the Currency] in the dark”…Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
“If you had said, ‘I’ve got a plan to take $800 billion of taxpayer money and give it to nine of my biggest pals in Corporate America, you would not have gotten a dime.” Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) is cited as saying that “Paulson’s Goldman Sachs ties influenced his decision to bail out AIG–which resulted in a $13 billion payment to Goldman…”, and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) was cited as saying that the “Wall Street firms that caused the chaos got bailed out, while people ‘in my district’ lost their homes.”
It’s too bad Congress didn’t have their brains in gear last Autumn when Paulson bamboozled Congress into “giving away the store” last Autumn when they ceded authority over the nation’s finances to the US Treasury Department (which has been run by executives coming from Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve Board). Congress is still far better at talking (to get headlines) than actually acting to do something when it comes to addressing problems. If Congress gets serious about its Constitutional authority and the nation’s well-being, they will vote to take back the extraordinary authority they gave the Treasury Dept. last Autumn. That hasn’t happened yet, but at least Congress is coming to the realization that Paulson took vital authority away from Congress last Autumn as easily as it would be to “take candy from a baby.” Congress can get upset when it realizes that the Executive Branch has treated it like fools. This USA Today article at least indicates some in Congress are waking up to what has happened. Let’s hope more wake up.
President Obama had asked the Congress to give extraordinary powers over Wall Street to the Federal Reserve Board, even though the Fed enabled the Wall Street recklessness that caused this crisis. The second link below is an excellent piece by columnist John Crudele, which further exposes the undue influence Goldman Sachs has over the nation and its financial affairs. Mr. Crudele notes Goldman’s remarkable trading profits and the fact that Goldman also had software program which can manipulate markets [a subject of a recent blog at this site] and comes to the conclusion that Goldman has been using that software to “manipulate the market.” Its hard to argue with his conclusion.
The third link below confirms the disdain with which Fed Chairman Bernanke regards Congress. When asked if he would tell the Congress what the Fed has done with the trillions of dollars used in the bailouts, Bernanke crisply replied “no.” And Congress is considering giving the Fed more powers? If this bothers you, you might want to contact your Congressional representatives to oppose giving the Fed any further powers over the US banking or financial system.
There is one more reason why the Fed should not be regulating any Wall Street banks. The last link was originally dated 1992 and was updated in 1998. Its information is even more timely today, and I found it via a websearch. This link also explains why Fed Chairman Bernanke replied so disdainfully to Congress when asked to account for the trillions of bailout dollars given to Wall Street mega-corporations. The Federal Reserve Bank is a private bank with a federal charter to serve as a US national bank. According to the last link, the Fed is owned by a consortium of twelve banks. One of the twelve banks named in that link as owning a portion of the Federal Reserve Board is none other than Goldman Sachs. This makes a lot of machinations in the national financial world a lot clear, doesn’t it? If Congress gives the Fed the power to “regulate” Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks, Goldman Sachs and other mega-banks will be “regulating” themselves via the Fed. Again, we ask the question: Will Congress ever wake up? If the last link’s information is accurate, Bernanke reports to Goldman Sachs and a consortium of mega-banks; he does not “report” to Congress.
Many of my blogs have stated that Revelation 17-18 identify the current global financial/commercial/monetary system dominated by the large multinational corporations and the political leaders who are “in bed” with the multinational corporations as being “Babylon the Great” in the latter days of our age. This prophecy foretells this global system called Babylon the Great will be harshly taken down by a group of “seven heads and ten horns” in the last days. We do not know yet who these “seven heads and ten horns” will be who will overthrow the system of Babylon the Great. Another recent blog at this website reported that a majority of the US House of Representatives has now co-sponsored Rep. Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve Board, and the first link below documents that bipartisan wrath at the actions of “Wall Street” (i.e. “Babylon the Great”) is rising. Wouldn’t it be a surprise if one of the “seven heads and ten horns” turns out to be the US Congress. It is the US Congress that voted the Federal Reserve Board into existence. The US Congress can also vote it out of existence. That’s food for thought as we watch this global financial crisis continue into the future.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2009-07-16-paulson-merrill-bofa_N.htm
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/03/with-one-word-bernanke-reveals-who.html
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/Fed_reserve.htm
