Darrell Issa makes a outragous claim, but is he correct?
@thegreatdebater (7316)
United States
June 24, 2009 6:17pm CST
Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said that the Fed "engaged in a cover-up and deliberately hid concerns and pertinent details regarding the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch from other federal regulatory agencies." Basicly what he is saying is that the government forced Bank of America to buy Merrill even though they didn't want to. This is a very dangerous accusation to make, and his comments were questioned all afternoon by economist, and pundents. If this is true, the Fed chairman (Ben Bernanke) could be removed, or even charged with a crime. If true this could really hurt our economy, and could set our economy back. Do you think we should know what really happened while we were saving our economy? And, if true, do you think that Bernanke should be punished for saving our country?
3 responses
@heathcliff (1415)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Definitely worthy of investigation, but let's not waste too much taxpayer money if the Fed only "hid concerns and pertinent details". In every financial transaction certain details do not come to light and it would be hard to prove it had any effect on the outcome. Of course, Issa knows a little something about "cover-ups", so who knows.
If it comes down to the fact that Bernanke committed a crime here, he must be punished regardless how beneficial the results may end up to be for America. We never want to become the country of "ends justifying the means", do we?
1 person likes this
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
25 Jun 09
I am not sure how much you know about this subject, but what many of the CEO's are claiming is that the FED and the Bush administration forced them to take TARP money, and buy up these banks wheather they wanted to, or not. According to many of them, it was not an option to say NO (this is why so many have been upset with the limits on compensation when they didn't need the money, nor did they want it). But, if they didn't do this, then the world would know what banks were about to go under, and their would be a run on the banks, and could have led to complete destruction of our economy. With that being said, I personally find it hard to go after Bernanke for doing this, but you are correct that we need to hold everyone to the same standard. This is a very interesting situation, but it could really hurt the credibility of the FED if it is true.
@heathcliff (1415)
• United States
25 Jun 09
It is the "alledgedly" part that concerns me. The group making the accusations is just as likely to make-up their story as the Fed is to cover it up. That is why investigation is so important. A witch hunt (unsupported allegations followed by public hangings) is never a good idea, and I'm not sure everyone believes that.
1 person likes this
@xfahctor (14113)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
25 Jun 09
The federal reserve is a shadowy and constitutionaly questionable entity, a private one at that which operates with zero over sight. I think the whole thing needs to be abolished and I would love nothing more than to see Bernanke put under oath and heavily questioned over T.A.R.P. as well as anyone else connected with that bastardd piece of unconstitutional legislation, including the former president. There is so much a web of entanglements with this thing it is doubtfull the american people will ever fully know what happened.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
25 Jun 09
If there is real evidence of this behavior than it definitely needs to be investigated. This whole TARP crap was wrong to start with and it seems like everyday we're discovering new things about it that make it more and more unconstitutional.
Personally I don't think this crap "saved or economy" or that Bernanke "saved our country." Forcing Bank of America to buy Merrill is socialism plain and simple. OF course the bailout itself was socialist garbage in everything it did and everything Obama has used it to do since.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
25 Jun 09
I'm well aware of when it was passed, who was president, and who voted for and against it.
FYI, Obama has been president for 5 months and this crap is still happening and there is still no oversight. He voted for it so he can't play the "blame Bush" card on this one. If he didn't read the bill, and we all know he didn't, than he's to blame for not doing the job that we, the taxpayers, paid him to do.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
25 Jun 09
Taskr, there is question as to what the FED chief said, and ment in some e-mails, but all of the evidence brought up today was assumption, and hear say. It wouldn't bother me one bit to see an investigation into the matter, but I don't know what it will accomplish. An interesting point of fact in this case is this deal that Ken Lewis (CEO of BofA, and on the hot seat) did resulted in the majority of BofA's profits in the last quarter.
I would like actual "PROOF" that the economy didn't need to be "saved". And no links from political right wing blogs that don't have a clue what they are talking about.
Taskr, Who was president when the TARP was created? I see while you were blaming Obama, you forgot to blame Bush, and his treasury secretary Henry Paulson. I am sure that was just a small error on your part, and I am sure that next time you will remember.
