Democratic Underground - The Fed is in court even now after losing the first two rounds which

would force it to disclose who got bailout money and how much. The "audit" you speak of is numbers on paper with no names behind, and all at face value, with no forward-looking statements on risk; in short, worthless for any type of decision-making to those reading.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/oped_contributors/Lift-the-Feds-veil-of-secrecy-on-bailout-money-91000004.html

Lift the Fed’s veil of secrecy on bailout money
By: Daniel J. Popeo
Special to The Examiner
April 16, 2010

Washington, D.C.’s massive and unprecedented $3 trillion taxpayer-funded bailout of failed institutions has given rise to legitimate bipartisan concerns about the nature of the Federal Reserve Bank’s activity, especially given the impenetrable veil of secrecy under which it operates. The once-clear line in America that separates the private sector from the public sector is quickly disappearing, and Washington is emerging as the financial, as well as political, capital of the country.

In such a troubling climate, the need for government accountability and transparency has never been greater. Following the Fed’s use of trillions in tax dollars to help bailout a hand-picked group of unknown firms, many news organizations and public interest groups filed Freedom of Information Act requests to learn the basic details of the bailout scheme — namely, who received what, in exchange for how much collateral and why?

The FOIA is a federal law designed to help citizens hold their government accountable by granting broad public access to federal government records. After the government repeatedly blocked such disclosure efforts, Bloomberg News Service, among others, filed suit. The case, Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, goes to the very core of why Congress enacted FOIA in the first place — to empower an informed citizenry to be a watchdog over its government. After a federal district judge ruled in favor of Bloomberg on the merits, the Fed dug its heels in even deeper and appealed the order.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the district court’s ruling against the government and ordered the Fed, yet again, to disclose the names of all bailout recipients and the amounts they received. The decision was a victory for the Washington Legal Foundation, which, along with other leading public interest groups, filed a brief in the appeals court urging strict adherence to FOIA and its goal of transparency.

But even in the face of two adverse federal court rulings, the Fed has so far refused to disclose the identities of those who received the emergency bailout funds or the known amounts of those highly controversial “loans.” The Fed has until May 3 to decide whether to seek further appellate review. Meanwhile, the Clearing House Association LLC, a consortium of banks who intervened in the case on the side of the Fed, has announced that it’s prepared to take its fight against disclosure to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

more at link.............

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