And I'll bet you didn't know it was missing! The courts have spoken twice, but expect more delaying tactics by the Fed. Excerpts from the Bloomberg.com story as posted here follow:
The US Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that the Fed must release records of the unprecedented $2 trillion US loan program launched primarily after the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The ruling upholds a decision of a lower-court judge, who in August ordered that the information be released. ...
The US Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, “sets forth no basis for the exemption the Board asks us to read into it,” US Circuit Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote in the opinion. “If the Board believes such an exemption would better serve the national interest, it should ask Congress to amend the statute.” ...
“We’re obviously pleased with the court’s decision, which is an important affirmation of the public’s right to know what its government is up to,” said Thomas Golden, a partner at New York-based Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Bloomberg’s outside counsel. ...
Lawyers for Bloomberg argued in court that the public has the right to know basic information about the “unprecedented and highly controversial use” of public money.
“Bloomberg has been trying for almost two years to break down a brick wall of secrecy in order to vindicate the public’s right to learn basic information,” Golden wrote in court filings. ...
The Fed’s balance sheet debt doubled after lending standards were relaxed following Lehman’s failure on Sept. 15, 2008. That year, the Fed began extending credit directly to companies that weren’t banks for the first time since the 1930s. Total central bank lending exceeded $2 trillion for the first time on Nov. 6, 2008, reaching $2.14 trillion on Sept. 23, 2009. ...
The case is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 09-04083, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York).
