
$340b of $454b Mnuchin was to turn over to the fed is unaccounted for - cinquemb
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/06/340-billion-of-the-454-billion-that-mnuchin-was-to-turn-over-to-the-fed-is-unaccounted-for/
======
xpe
The article links to this "FEDERAL RESERVE statistical release":
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/)

I would expect investors and analysis firms pay attention to these reports.
For civic-minded hackers, there may be an opportunity to contextualize these
reports to a broader audience.

Some context about me: I used to work for the Sunlight Labs (part of the
Sunlight Foundation in Washington, DC) that advocated for financial
transparency. At the time, Sunlight had considerable bipartisan support. To
the extent I can, I would be happy to connect interested people to
organizations that have interest in investigative journalism around such
financial statements.

------
xpe
I have not seen this web site before. The about page says:

> Mission: Wall Street On Parade hopes to level the playing field between Wall
> Street and the 99 percent. Wall Street is a jungle of devices to effect an
> institutionalized wealth transfer system. The goal of this web site is to
> provide the jungle guide to the 99 percent in the hope of bringing about
> citizen-inspired change.

> Wall Street On Parade ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark
> Office. WallStreetOnParade.com is a public interest web site operated by
> Russ and Pam Martens to help the investing public better understand systemic
> corruption on Wall Street. Ms. Martens is a former Wall Street veteran with
> a background in journalism. Mr. Martens' career spanned four decades in
> printing and publishing management.

------
xpe
For background, the National Law Review offers a legal summary of the 2020
CARES Act:

[https://www.natlawreview.com/article/summary-cares-
act](https://www.natlawreview.com/article/summary-cares-act)

From what I can tell, it does a nice job of summarizing the different
mechanisms of the act.

------
ikeboy
By unaccounted, they mean it hasn't been used.

Remember, these funds are only needed to the extent the Fed expects potential
losses from loans. If they're making safe loans, it's not needed.

~~~
xpe
Would you please share some additional background and/or support for your
comments?

~~~
ikeboy
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/mnuchin-says-u-s-not-aiming-
to-...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/mnuchin-says-u-s-not-aiming-to-lose-
money-on-fed-lending-facilities-11588178749)

>Congress last month appropriated $454 billion to absorb possible losses on
the Fed programs, which will provide trillions of dollars in loans to
businesses and municipalities. The money from the Treasury serves as a buffer
to protect the Fed against losses. Some of Fed’s investments may end up being
profitable, while others will lose money, Mr. Mnuchin said on a conference
call with reporters. All told, he said, the U.S. aims to at least come out
even.

>The Treasury has pledged $185 billion so far from the funds Congress provided
to support roughly $2.3 trillion in lending by the central bank, including
loans for states and municipalities and midsize businesses. Mr. Mnuchin said
he’s holding some money in reserve while he monitors the economy and the
effectiveness of the programs.

[https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11327](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11327)

>Although there were no losses from these facilities after the 2008 financial
crisis, some of the 2020 facilities pose greater risk, and assets from
Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) have been pledged to backstop
losses on several of the facilities today. To date, $215 billion has been
pledged to these programs (see Table 1)

OP isn't even accurate on its own terms. $215 billion has been pledged, not
the $114 billion OP claims.

~~~
jressey
It says right in this article that of the money allocated, the Fed has not met
it's commitment to disclose the lender, sum, and interest rate of about 3/4 of
the loans they have given. It is a fair assumption by the author that we
cannot have any expectation that the rest of the disbursements will be
reported appropriately.

~~~
ikeboy
Note that the three facilities that have disbursed funds but are not releasing
transaction level data were all established _before_ the CARES act was enacted
and have nothing to do with the $454 billion in funding there. Those are safe
facilities lending to banks or other bank-like companies and didn't require
any support from Congress. There was never any commitment to disclose
transaction data there. OP is just misleading.

------
xpe
See also this article from June 18, 2020:

[https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2020/06/administration-
continu...](https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2020/06/administration-continuing-
to-limit-transparency-and-oversight-of-cares-act-funds/)

> It’s been almost three months since President Donald Trump signed the
> Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law. While
> the executive branch has already spent much of the emergency aid
> appropriated by the bill, it has not approached the bill’s oversight and
> transparency provisions with the same fervor. Without transparency and
> oversight of the spending, American taxpayers cannot have full confidence
> that the government is acting in their best interests, or that those who
> most need the economic assistance are the ones who got it.

