In an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism, Bloomberg Markets Magazine describes the real financial bailout action that took place when banks tapped into the Federal Reserve’s Term Auction Facility for additional borrowing at below market rates.
Select highlights include:
- While the TARP program had a big $700 billion price tag, the Federal Reserve committed as much as $7.77 trillion to banks as of March 2009. These additional trillions were provided in almost complete secrecy and with no strings attached.
- The single largest one day commitment of funds was $1.2 trillion on December 5 2008.
- The Federal Reserve funds produced $13 billion in income for the recipients.
- Average bank employee pay in 2010 was roughly the same as before the financial crisis began in 2007. Banks spent $146.3 billion on compensation in 2010—an average of $126,342 per employee
- Assets held by the six largest banks in the United States increased 39 percent from September 30 2006 ($6.8 trillion) through September 30 2011 ($9.5 trillion).
Source: Bloomberg
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