Bailout Transparency Not Necessary? Barney “Rubble” Frank: “Trust Us”

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Taxpayers weren’t necessarily sold on the “emergency bailout”, but some may have rested a bit easier knowing that there would be transparency and oversight of the millions of dollars that are being thrown at the likes of Fannie and Freddie and AIG. This week, the Federal Reserve refused to indentify who received close to 2 trillion dollars in tax payer funded loans, let alone the questionable assets that the Fed is accepting as collateral! Enter Barney Frank, the pride of Massachusetts – the same Barney Frank who had his paws on Freddie and Fannie in the first case, assuring the public that all was well with the institutions – right before the big collapse. Barney, in a conversation with Timothy Geithner, a possible pick for Treasury Secretary and current executive officer of the Fed’s New York Branch, feels that the Feds failure to disclose is just fine and dandy.

“``I talk to Geithner and he was pretty sure that they're OK,'' said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. ``If the risk is that the Fed takes a little bit of a haircut, well that's regrettable.'' Such losses would be acceptable, he said if the program helps revive the economy.
`Unclog the Market'
Frank said the Fed shouldn't reveal the assets it holds or how it values them because of ``delicacy with respect to pricing.'' He said such disclosure would ``give people clues to what your pricing is and what they might be able to sell us and what your estimates are.'' He wouldn't say why he thought that information would be problematic. “

To recap, the Fed is not disclosing who is getting the 2 trillion dollars, nor the types of risks being assumed, and Frank is ok with this because Geithner is “pretty sure that they’re ok”, and would not say why disclosing this information would be problematic. Barney Frank’s advanced degree in Economics doesn’t appear to be serving the tax payers – perhaps because he doesn’t have one. Barney is also bringing the Massachusetts model of decriminalizing Marijuana to the national stage. Barney might not be the crackpot many in his district believe (granted he was re-elected handily due to weak opposition), but this move may answer the question: “What’s he smoking?”