Bloomberg News yankin' the ski mask off of TARP recipients

It looks like the American Taxpayer will finally get to see which banks got the bailout.  The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the Banking Industry to keep secret the details of who got what from the TARP.  Thanks to Bloomberg News filing a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, the Federal Reserve will have to disclose the "names and details of the banks that borrowed money from the “discount window,” where U.S. banks have turned for emergency funds — confidentially — for nearly a century." 

This is just another example of the hubris and the disconnect that corporations (specifically the Banking Industry) have from Main Street and reality.  When you take taxpayer (public) money to bailout a private enterprise, the taxpayers get to see who you are and what you spent it on.  Once you've paid us back, then we'll get out of your business.  Simple as that. 

Bloomberg News, you have the thanks of a greatful taxpayer.

Nobel Prize winner "not qualified" to be on Federal Reserve Board of Governors?

Yes, that's right.  NOT QUALIFIED.  This according to Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), who is holding up the nomination of Peter Diamond, MIT Economist, to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.  Peter Diamond is on of three who are sharing the Nobel Prize for Economics this year, for their work on "how economic policy affects the job market," by understanding "the ways in which unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy."  

But, according to today's article in The Washington Monthly and the ThinkProgress blog,...

"Five current governors of the Fed, only two, Mr. Bernanke and the vice chairman, Donald L. Kohn, are academic economists who specialize in monetary economics. The other three include a former community banker, a former Wall Street executive and a legal scholar." 

Also, one of the current Federal Reserve Board members who was appointed by President Bush, "has no advanced degree in economics and has never done any academic research in the field. Shelby never raised questions about his qualifications and didn't hesitate to support that nomination." 

Oh yeah.  Totally unqualified to be on the Board of the Federal Reserve.  This explains a lot about why our economy and monetary policy are a mess.  Thank Senator Shelby!  You're a credit to conservatives the world over.  (NOT!) 

Links relating to this post:  http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/pdiamond/index.htm