MDM, wrote on Tue, 28 July 2009 16:02 |
This borders on comedy Grayson: "So who got the money?" Bernanke: "Financial institutions in Europe and other counries." Grayson: "Which ones?" Bernanke: "I don't know." Gryson: "Half a trillion dollars and you don't know who got the money?" |
Jon Hodgson wrote on Tue, 28 July 2009 09:26 |
Why should he be expected to know? The Fed knows who they lent the money to, 14 Central Banks, as he states in the video, they don't know "who got the money", because they don't know who those banks then lent the money to. That's pretty clear from the testimony given. They don't have access to that information, and likewise they would not give that information to other central banks if the situation were reversed... if they did Congress would be up in arms I'm sure. |
MDM, wrote on Tue, 28 July 2009 17:15 |
You're right Jon.. Bernanke doesn't REALLY know much, as the past has shown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ79Pt2GNJo The fact that he's intelligent, schooled, and the CHAIRMAN of the Fed Reserve SHOULD mean he actually follows his own work, understands what he's doing and says things which are based on truth.. |
PookyNMR wrote on Tue, 28 July 2009 17:28 | ||
If Bernanke were your personal portfolio manger, would you want to know where your money has been invested? Would you be satisfied just to hear that your portfolio was given over to some mutual fund company with no disclosure of that companies holdings and strategies? I think if your portfolio manager treated you like Bernanke is treating us, you'd go to the securities board to have is license revoked and have him brought up on charges. There's no excuse to so quickly lose track of half a trillion dollars. |
Jon Hodgson wrote on Tue, 28 July 2009 10:58 | ||||
The Fed lent to other Central Banks, that's who owes the Fed (and thus the US taxpayer) the money, Bernanke has that information. What he doesn't have is the details of who those Central Banks lent to, but those entities don't owe the Fed a penny, they owe money to their Central Banks. If your portfolio manager bought Treasury Securities, would you demand to know what the government was spending the money on? |
PookyNMR wrote on Wed, 29 July 2009 18:12 | ||||||
If my portfolio manager bought Treasury Securities, I'd expect that he knows the general positions and obligations attached. Partly why the Chinese laughed Geithner - they knew the positions and obligations behind US securities. We don't need every last bloody detail, but some sort of clue as to generally where the funds are going is prudent. I don't know of any prudent manager that blindly invests without some reasonable idea of where the funds are going. |
Quote: |
Which central banks can currently engage in swaps? The Federal Reserve has established swap arrangements with the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Banco Central do Brasil, the Bank of Canada, Danmarks Nationalbank, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Banco de Mexico, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Norges Bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Sveriges Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank. |
Quote: |
How are the swaps structured? The Federal Reserve provides U.S. dollars to a foreign central bank. At the same time, the foreign central bank provides the equivalent amount of funds in its currency to the Federal Reserve, based on the market exchange rate at the time of the transaction. The parties agree to swap back these quantities of their two currencies at a specified date in the future, which may be the next day or as far ahead as three months, using the same exchange rate as in the first transaction. Because the terms of this second transaction are set in advance, fluctuations in exchange rates during the interim do not alter the eventual payments. As such, these swap operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks. |
MDM, wrote on Wed, 05 August 2009 15:33 |
here's more 'missing' money...1 trillion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpqkNsbSINA |
MDM, wrote on Wed, 05 August 2009 18:33 |
the sound is out of phase from how I hear it on my laptop. what's happening probably is that you're listening in mono and you hear no audio. youtube behaves 'oddly' sometimes. the lady in the video says that although it's her job and they've had 8 months to research a 'missing' trillion dollars, she doesn't know who the Fed gave it to, and that they 'are working on getting that information' so I don't think what you mention applies, Jon. |