The ill-named Government Accountability Office (GAO) finally performed a light audit (nowhere near the type of Audit that would have went down had Ron Paul’s plan been followed), the results of which can be found in this handy document [PDF]. It’s an incredibly long document and I’d be lying if I said I’ve read through it (I’m working on it though).
There is a pretty decent summary of the report here:
The U.S. Federal Reserve gave out $16.1 trillion in emergency loans to U.S. and foreign financial institutions between Dec. 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010, according to figures produced by the government’s first-ever audit of the central bank.
Last year, the gross domestic product of the entire U.S. economy was $14.5 trillion.
Of the $16.1 trillion loaned out, $3.08 trillion went to financial institutions in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) analysis shows.
I a span of less than three yeas the Federal Reserve printed up and loaned out more money than the gross domestic product of the entire United States. What the fuck? Oh, and it shouldn’t shock you who the biggest receivers of Federal Reserve money were:
Out of all borrowers, Citigroup received the most financial assistance from the Fed, at $2.5 trillion. Morgan Stanley came in second with $2.04 trillion, followed by Merill Lynch at $1.9 trillion and Bank of America at $1.3 trillion.
Yup, the Fed’s cronies all received some pretty wickedly large loans. I really have no additional comments to make, I think the presented evidence is enough for any intelligent person to figure out what’s going on.
Let me just say again, we need to end the Federal Reserve and return to a commodity-based monetary system free of all government interference.