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Federal Reserve Seeks to Protect U.S. Bailout Secrets
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of BusinessWeek/Bloomberg News


BusinessWeek/Bloomberg News, January 12, 2010
Posted: February 15th, 2010
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-12/federal-reserve-...

The Federal Reserve asked a U.S. appeals court to block a ruling that for the first time would force the central bank to reveal secret identities of financial firms that might have collapsed without the largest government bailout in U.S. history. Bloomberg argued that the public has the right to know basic information about the unprecedented and highly controversial use of public money. Banks and the Fed warn that bailed-out lenders may be hurt if the documents are made public, causing a run or a sell-off by investors. New York-based Bloomberg ... sued in November 2008 after the Fed refused to name the firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or assets used as collateral under its lending programs. Bloomberg has been trying for almost two years to break down a brick wall of secrecy in order to vindicate the publics right to learn basic information, Thomas Golden, an attorney for the company with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, wrote in court filings. More than a dozen other groups or companies filed amicus, or friend-of-the-court, briefs, including the American Society of News Editors and individual news organizations. The judge postponed the application of her ruling to allow the appeals court to consider the case.

Note: When doling out trillions of dollars of tax-payers' money, doesn't the public have a right to know who is receiving the money and what it is being used for?


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