If it wasn’t enough to have Bloomberg sue the Federal Reserve, now we have Fox Business News suing the US Treasury for refusing to disclose information asked for under the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA].

I don’t have much to say here (for now) because I have not seen the complaint yet, but I would say that American citizens are entitled to know the details of the bailout plans because they are a large part of the Federal budget, supported by our taxes.? The same is true for the actions of the Federal Reserve, because they are messing with the value of the US Dollars we hold.

What does the Treasury have to hide?:

• How were the amounts of relief chosen?
• Who qualifies for relief, and why did you turn some away?
• Why did AIG get special treatment?
• Why didn’t you bail out Lehman?
• What Constitutional authority do you have for doing any of this?
• Why do you think that auto companies can get relief here, given the terms of the bailout bill?

This is a mess, though less of a mess than the one at the Federal Reserve.? Our choices are hard today because of previous choices where we relaxed monetary/credit policy at points where it would have been painful.? We are facing far more pain today as a result.

It;s a pity that the incoming administation doesn’t get it.? Reducing leverage slowly should be priority number one.