Alan Grayson: Profiled People in Economics and Banking

ByPrimary Researcher

Executive Summary

  • Alan Grayson is one of the few politicians to have effectively questioned and challenged private banking interests.

Introduction

Grayson displayed a level of grit and willingness to confront corrupt banking interests that make him a throwback to the tradition of earlier US politicians. Grayson stood out for his ability to pull back the veil and multiple aspects of the banking industry. The following videos are one of the only times that the Fed has challenged the US Federal Reserve Chairman. The Fed is constantly overstepping its authority and operates in near secrecy. It allows private banks to move derivatives over to the US balance sheet that it prices without any concern for the value of the derivative. Private banks receive interest-free money from the Fed. The entirety of the Fed is to serve as a dispenser of benefits to private banks and connected private banks in particular. Local credit unions do not receive the same largess, and credit unions are not required to be perpetually bailed out by the US government.

In the following video, Grayson again critiques the uses of money by the Fed.

This video shows how the Fed accepts bad assets from private banks. In this way, the Fed is a “garbage collector” for the mistakes of private banks. Private banks create garbage every year, and when they want to get rid of these assets, the Fed serves as their garbage bin. Grayson asks more questions about transparency into what the Fed is doing.

Here Fox News states that people being foreclosed upon, even illegally, “do not need Grayson’s help.” The commentator entirely accepts that due to “slicing and dicing” mortgages, “it’s difficult to see who owns the mortgages.” This is a peculiar thing to say. If the bank followed through on documentation requirements, they would certainly know. Secondly, this begs the question. If law firms foreclosing on people who don’t know what bank owns the mortgage, why are they initiating foreclosure procedures? Wouldn’t it make sense to wait until they can determine when the entity owns the mortgage before foreclosing on them? The fact is that many of these foreclosure mills were forging documents to make up for the fact that they could not determine ownership. However, according to the commentator, politicians should not be pointing out the massive fraud being conducted on the private banking industry. This is typical of the financial media coverage as it is nearly universally supportive of private banking interests. One can view the pushback Grayson receives in asking questions even among other members of Congress in this video.

It is impossible to answers from the Fed. They refuse to answer as this video which has Alan Greyson asking the Inspector General of the Fed, demonstrates.