- Wall Street Owes Its Survival To the Fed

CFR.org - Wall Street Owes Its Survival To the Fed

The Fed published its balance sheet in compliance with the financial reform law. This is a brief but informative response to the information provided by the Fed. We know that congress gave the government $700 billion under TARP for the rescue of the financial system. The Fed, however, provided $3.3 trillion in loans and guarantees to a variety of US and international institutions to rescue the worldwide financial system. Some of our largest banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, were in much worse shape than they admitted at the time. Both were heavily dependent upon facilities made available by the Fed. The thrust of the article is not to criticize the Fed for its role in saving the worldwide financial system. Rather, the article suggested that the problem, if left to elected officials, may not have been remedied.