The US media’s attempts to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out which banks received financial bailouts were blocked, said legal analyst Nicole Kardell, and the Federal Reserve doesn’t know the answer itself.
At a time of financial crisis in the United States – after a nearly $800 billion stimulus package was passed this year and after nearly $700 billion in bailout money was passed in 2008 by the Bush administration – Americans are wondering where all the money has gone.
Lawmakers are trying to pass a bill which would ask for an audit of the Federal Reserve. But there are some media outlets that are taking a different route. They are filing lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act through which they try to find out which banks received bailouts and how much money they got. Just recently one such lawsuit was rejected. The problem might be that the Federal Reserve itself doesn’t know where half a trillion dollars went, says Kardell.