Do you know how much money the Federal Reserve has given in Secret Bailouts?

You are misrepresenting what the audit stated. For anyone who is interested, the audit report can be found at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11696.pdf

First, loans are not gifts. The fact that you and your link claim the Federal Reserve "gave" the banks the money shows that you don't know WTF you are talking about.

Second, there was nothing secret about the Federal Reserve's extraordinary lending programs. Each of the programs were discussed in detail in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 annual reports to Congress. Amounts that were outstanding in each program are listed on the Fed's balance sheet and were shown on the weekly H.4.1 statistical release which are all public information. For example, here is the statistical release from March 5, 2009 http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/2009030...

Also, there were news reports from the period that specifically covered several of the extraordinary lending programs. Yup, it was so secret that it was announced in the media. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/business/03fed.h... http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/10/08/us-finan... and there are plenty of others available for anyone willing to spend the time to look.

Third, there was never $16 trillion in loans outstanding. Most of the extraordinary lending were for loans that matured overnight to address temporary liquidity issues. Also, most the extraordinary lending programs required adequate collateral from the borrower. Almost all of the extraordinary programs have now ended and all loans made under those programs were repaid, on-time, and with interest. Of course, you would know that if you had actually read the report. See page 4 of the report.

Fourth, contrary to the blathering of certain politicians and some uninformed people on the Internet, all of the lending programs established minimum interest rates and the terms of the loans. The Primary Dealer Credit Facility only made overnight loans and the interest varied from as low as 0.5% to 3.25%. The Term Auction Facility made loans for 28-day and 84-day periods. The interest rate for those loans varied from 0.25% to 4.65%.

As for loans to foreign banks and corporations, the law governing the Federal Reserve specifically allows those types of transactions. If Senator Sanders wants to complain about those transactions, he should probably read the law first. It wasn't that the Federal Reserve did something it wasn't supposed to do. It did exactly what was allowed by law. Since Congress wrote and enacted that law, it was Congress that allowed those transactions to happen.

See 12 USC 347c and 12 USC 347d

Fifth, you are wrong when you claim that "We the People" will have to pay for the lending that occurred under the extraordinary lending programs. Most of the programs are now closed and all lending under those programs has been repaid with interest. All loans made under the extraordinary lending programs required adequate collateral plus an extra amount to cover risk. So, even if a borrowing institution defaulted, which none did, each loan was covered by collateral which would have more than balanced the defaulted loan, so there was literally almost zero risk that "We the People" would have had to pay for anything.

Finally, the Federal Reserve is independently audited every year. Those audits ARE complete financial audits. What Ben Bernanke and others opposed was releasing to the public the names of who borrowed and how much they borrowed. The independent audits do review those transactions to ensure that the reported outstanding amount shown on the balance sheet is accurate. Also, a risk assessment review is performed to ensure that the Federal Reserve follows its procedures for limiting risk. Ben Bernanke and others were not opposed to an audit, they were opposed to releasing names of those who borrowed for obvious reasons.

I realize that I'm hitting my head against a wall of conspiracy, but read the damned report that it's linked to. Most Fed funding is not really 'loans', it represents very short term funding (often overnight) that is a revolving account. Citigroup is shown as 'borrowing' $2.5 trillion, for example, when that could have been 250 overnight 'loans' or $10 billion, each of which was paid back the same DAY. The numbers represent account activity, not some magical amount given out for free as the whack jobs describe it.

After you study some basic economics, come back and talk to us again.

I can't tell you because it's a secret.

I don't know because it is a secret.

No, but I'm guessing you do though.

Is there any chance that silverbear.com is lying to you?