Citigroup ($2.2 trillion), Merrill Lynch ($2.1 trillion), Morgan Stanley ($2 trillion), Bear Stearns

[The Straight Story]

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve revealed details Wednesday of trillions of dollars in emergency aid it provided to U.S. and foreign banks during the financial crisis.

New documents show that the most loan and other aid for U.S. institutions over time went to Citigroup ($2.2 trillion), followed by Merrill Lynch ($2.1 trillion), Morgan Stanley ($2 trillion), Bear Stearns ($960 billion), Bank of America ($887 billion), Goldman Sachs ($615 billion), JPMorgan Chase ($178 billion) and Wells Fargo ($154 billion).

Merrill Lynch was later acquired by Bank of America, while Bear Stearns collapsed and was sold to JPMorgan.

Foreign banks also benefited from the Fed's aid. They included Swiss bank UBS, which borrowed more than $165 billion, Deutsche Bank ($97 billion) and the Royal Bank of Scotland ($92 billion).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40455274

[aquamarina]

1. And no money for the unemployed.

Kind of says it all, doesn't it?

[Octafish]

18. Priorities.

What are a few hungry million Americans compared to a CEO without a bonus?

Ask me about my health care.

[Greyhound]

2. No, no, no, it's all been paid back and everything is fucking wonderful.

You're such a negative Nelly.
:sarcasm:
:kick: & R

[The Straight Story]

5. You know, here is what I find of interest in all of that:

I am 45, paid into (or companies I have worked for have, which means they paid me less) into Unemployment for over 25 years.

Are the RW folks telling me that all that money I/Co's forked over is worth only 26 weeks and the rest is 'charity'?

[Major Hogwash]

10. That's a good point. The banks wanted a lower interest rate and it has been at ZERO percent for over

a year and a half now.
So when do those banks start loaning money to small business people again?

Or loan to middle-sized companies, so they can bring in more people to work since the recession ended in 2009.

They're hoarding the money, that's why they aren't loaning any money out.

[Greyhound]

13. That sums up the economic fantasy that has been forced onto us.

Welfare for people is the most horrible thing government can do. Welfare for corporations is noble and good for the nation.

That is the consistent thread throughout every Congress and administration since 1981.

[Capn Sunshine]

3. this is a bad thing?

Is that what you're saying? Financial meltdown would be better, so everyone is unemployed? Is that it? The government is not cabable of doing good, because you hate the gummint? Because they saved all those financial guys from taking us down the tubes?
OK then.

[girl gone mad]

15. Yes.

Accepting worthless assets as collateral in exchange for effectively 0% interest loans instead of putting these insolvent institutions into receivership was a bad thing.

We've turned a private liquidity/solvency crisis into a global sovereign debt crisis. Much, much more dangerous, in the scheme of things. Now instead of talking about some wealthy bondholders losing their shirts, we are talking about the potential collapse of political systems and monetary unions.

[sendero]

16. It is a complete fantasy...

... that the only solution to this crisis was to bail out the bad actors.

What they just did is take the losses the banks generated and give them to the taxpayer to pay off. Meanwhile, the bankers still pay themselves big bonuses.

If that's ok with you I don't know what to say.

[Capn Sunshine]

17. what you mention is a fantasy perpetrated by the free marketeers

The carnage would have been incredible, and they wanted things to just come apart on Obama's watch. For some reason lots of well meaning progressive have bought into this disinformation. Not everything you read on the internets is true. Some of the background is too complicated to fit in a "good" box or a "bad" box. I suppose you think the GM bailout was a ripoff as well.

[sendero]

19. You ....

..simply don't know what you are talking about.

[Newsjock]

4. And federal employees have to give up $2bn/year in pay increases

It's not even a rounding error in numbers this big.

Fucking bastards.

[no limit]

6. Holy fucking shit! Now Im no math wizz, but that adds up to around 9 trillion dollars

we gave these fuckers that much fucking money and we can't find a few billion for the unemployed? I'm sorry, I have not seen these numbers before, that is absolutely insane.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

7. So bow to your corporate masters and say thank you

for all their hard work looking after your best interests.

[ProSense]

8. These stories are leaving out a key detail.

The these loans were from 2007 through 2008. This was the Bush administration's attempt to fight a financial crisis it kept denying with claims that the fundamentals of the economy were sound.

Liquidity Facility Was Lifeline for Wall Street

There is also some information at Senator Sanders' site.

[The Straight Story]

9. Key detail for me

We got congress to help them out, even if under bush and the repubs, but we cannot get a helping hand for people now out of work because these same recipients of the money fucked up the economy.

The people who did not screw it up cannot get a helping hand - even though they did the right thing, went to work, did their job, paid their taxes.

[ProSense]

11. No,

the Fed loans have nothing to do with Congress. TARP did.

If Congress knew about the Fed loans, there would have been no need for Congress to request an audit or disclosure.

[Gin]

12. so....the timing of this collapse looked pretty fishy....they held off until the

last minute...and dumped this shit on the next administration.

why am I not surprised?

[sarcasmo]

14. Right around 8 and a half Trillion dollars how much is the deficit? Around 12 trillion?

This is one fucked up country we live in.