Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion From Fed

By Bradley Keoun and Phil Kuntz

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS), got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress.
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Comment: The FED was planned to do act as a bailout mechanism from the beginning. The only difference to earlier episodes is that this time the amounts were larger and its distribution global. Central banking means that at least for the financial sector small and big profits will be private while the really big losses will be socialized.