Posted on 06/25/2009 4:46:23 AM PDT by kellynla
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke engaged in a "cover-up" to disguise his actions in strong-arming the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch last fall, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) charged in a statement released moments ago.
Quick catchup: Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis has twice testified under oath that Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson threatened to remove him (Lewis) and the B of A board if he didn't go through with a proposed merger with troubled brokerage Merrill Lynch.
Lewis said that he considered trying to back out of the deal as he saw Merrill's losses mounting into the billions in December, but said Bernanke told him he had to go through with the tie-up -- with $10 billion in government aid -- to keep the financial markets from collapsing. Bernanke has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Bernanke testifies on the Hill tomorrow before Issa's committee, so his provocative assertion today sets the stage for some drama. Issa is the ranking member of the House Oversight committee and has led the probe against Bernanke.
"The committee has already learned that Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve made inappropriate threats to fire Bank of America management unless they went ahead with the 'shotgun wedding' that was the Merrill Lynch acquisition," Issa said in a released to Reuters and since obtained by The Post.
"The Federal Reserve also engaged in a cover-up and deliberately hid concerns and pertinent details regarding the merger from other federal regulatory agencies," the statement said.
Quoting from a Republican committee staff memo obtained by The Post:
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
Appalling. Looks like govt officials were colluding to get their filthy hands on tax dollars. Read on:
ITEM---Documents Reveal How then-Secy Paulson Forced Banks To Take TARP Cash
The business insider | 5/14/09
FR Posted 05/14/2009 by FromLori
Remember the infamous meeting when then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson had the heads of 9 major banks come down to Washington? It was then that he made them the offer they couldn't refuse. Take TARP cash, or else!
Now Judicial Watch -- the conservative watchdog organization which was famous for giving the Clinton administration fits -- has uncovered secret documents from that meeting via the FOIA.
A few of them are really quite stunning. The first 1-pager is Paulson's talking points for the bank. It basically confirms that he put a gun to all their heads. It says they must agree to take their cash, and that if they protested, then each bank's regulator would force them to take it anyway.
The next document is perhaps even more mindblowing. It's the one-page agreement whereby each CEO agreed to let the government make its preferred stock injeciton. As you can see, both the amounts of the injection and the name of the bank are just handwritten scrawl. Treasury Participation Commitment (Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
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ITEM---Paulson threatened US Senators with Martial Law if they did not vote him the bailout billions. Paulson demanded the TARP be exempt from judicial, legislative, and regulatory review. $350B disappeared without a trace---and NO significant effect on the economy.
US Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) said that Congress was not told the truth about the $700 billion TARP bailout. "The American people don't know how much money Treasury Secy Henry Paulson has given away to anyone. IT COULD BE TO HIS FRIENDS. We don't know. There is no way of knowing.''
Paulson stationed Neel Kaskari (his right-hand man at Goldman Sachs) to (gag) oversee $350B TARP payouts. We still do not know in which G/S rathole these two secreted the $350B.
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NOW HEAR THIS---- SPECIAL LIBERTY ALERT!
The Liberty Sphere | May 30, 2009 | Anthony G. Martin
FR Posted May 30, 2009 by Welshman007
WHITE HOUSE MOVES TO SILENCE CRITICS OF THE STIMULUS PROGRAM! FRONTAL ATTACK ON FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS!
From the WH Blog link: Following OMB’s review, the Administration has decided to make a number of changes to the rules that we think make them even tougher on special interests and more focused on merits-based decision making. First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists. For the first time, we will reach contacts not only by registered lobbyists but also by unregistered ones, as well as anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program. (Excerpt) Read more at thelibertysphere.blogspot.com ...
There is NO way to put Humpty Dumpty back upon that proverbial wall as the spoils have been divided among those who set this conspiracy in motion. And Bama got to be president.
Bernanke hearings are on CSPAN right now. Bernanke is a Republican and a straight arrow. I believe his denial of threatening BofA Lewis 100%. 0 wants to replace him with Larry Summers.
I want to see computer hard drives, wire-transfers, and travel schedules (to see how many times they contacted offshore banks).
There are so many crimes committed here, it would take 35-40 single-spaced typed pages to list them all---one crime per line.
Problem is Holder can't count that high (/snic).
So do I...though I think Bernanke is an academic who is naive about the realities of DC power politics. I have no doubt Paulson made all of those threats to B of A.
(tar & feathers is too good for these PUBLIC THIEVE maggots.)
Figuratively speaking of course.
I'd never advocate violence or Vigilante Justice. 
Well this sure is a relief to find out that Bernanke is a Republican. Republicans can sure be proud to be represented by the decisions made on their behalf. (sarcasm, but only slightly)
Is there a live thread for this stellar congressional oversight committee hearing? I can’t find it.
Ok. Yes he is a Republican and, yes, that may be irrelevant. But, I think he is an independent actor - he has not sold out to 0.
Thank you. But I meant here.. is there a thread here?
Gee, watta relief (/snic).
Oh, I get it-—you jest wanna “tie a yellow ribbon” round it. Right? LOL.
WHAT else is there left (no pun intended) for Bernanke to deal? 40lk? For all practical purposes Bernanke has become the chief of the money print shop. IF Bernanke wants to keep his job he will do exactly what Bama and his prompter programmers tell him to do.
Oh, I get it-—you jest wanna “tie a yellow ribbon” round it. Right? LOL.
Yeah that's basically it.
We'll all sit in the shade of the Oak Trees, Skip Rope, and sing Happy Songs like:
'Kumbaya', 'Everything Is Beautiful', 'Hail Bureaucracy' and 'Barack Obama, über alles'And Purple Kool-Aid will be served to all.
Or... we can have Beer instead of Kool-Aid, make Clubs from the tree branches, use the rope for Torches, then we march on Congress :-)
Red stuff sounds good.
" Golly Ben, bailing Wall Street hedgers and other greedsters is hard work."
"Keep bailing, Paulson."
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