Now that the Treasury Department has posted copies of six different bailout-related contracts with key sections either blacked out or deleted, we have decided to seek the missing information through the Freedom of Information Act.
Under federal law, the Treasury Department will have 20 business days to respond to our requests once they arrive in
The Treasury Department's open records policy mentions exemptions for some types of commercial or financial information. But it does not appear to us that descriptions of payment formulas or certain other details that were deleted from the bailout contracts the agency awarded to outside legal, accounting and financial advisers would qualify.
As BailoutSleuth previously reported, the contract the Treasury Department gave Bank of New York Mellon Corp. last month did not show how much the company would be paid to serve as the master custodian of the $700 billion bailout fund. The agreement said that the bank would receive a monthly fee, but the fee and all information about the calculation of the fee was blacked out of the copy that the agency posted on its web site.
The Treasury Department also blacked out or redacted nearly all information about the winning bids submitted by the accounting firms of Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP and Ernst & Young. Pricewaterhouse Coopers was chosen to provide internal controls for the bailout fund. Ernst & Young will handle general accounting and consulting.
The Treasury Department said the first phase of those contracts were worth $191,469.27 and $492,006.95, respectively, but did not disclose how many hours of work those figures represented or anything else about how they were derived.
Earlier this week, the Treasury Department announced contracts with two law firms, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP of New York and Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP of Cleveland. It said the firms would work on deals in which the government is injecting capital into banks through the purchase of preferred stock.
The Treasury Department said the initial contracts run for six months and are worth $5.5 million per firm. But copies of the purchase orders posted on its site omitted any details that would allow outsiders to determine whether the government got a good deal.
The Treasury Department also blacked out the hourly rates it was paying employees of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, which will provide legal advice under a contract the government said was worth $300,000.
Neel Kashkari, the Treasury Department official directing the bailout program, vowed after his appointment last month that it would be an "open and transparent program with appropriate oversight.''
The legislation that authorized the $700 billion program includes a provision that allows Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. to waive federal contracting rules "where compelling interests make compliance contrary to the public interest.'' But we don't see how that could be used to justify a lack of disclosure about the contracts themselves.
The Treasury Department may have to reveal more details about its contracts next month.
Another section of the legislation requires Paulson to report monthly to Congress on the agency's bailout-related activities, and to submit detailed financial statements. That reporting must begin within 60 days of his first use of authority under the legislation.
Thank you... these people need to get over themselves and realize that not everything is grade A secret-material and that non-disclosure and mystery is what makes something suspicious.
Instead, they seem to think that everything would make us suspicious (perhaps it would) and redact every document. How about this for a smell-test. If you think you need to redact something, say, a salary-- LOWER THE FRICKIN SALARY.
Anyone on this website, including Mark Cuban, should take a few hours and watch "The Money Masters" Part 1 and 2. It can be found on Google.
You will have to tolerate the man who is giving you all the great information as he has a habit of taking his pen and moving it with every other word.
But it's worth it. "The Money Masters" will give you the history of money from the beginning and will explain exactly what The Federal Reserve is, how it was formed, who is in control of it and exactly how the American People were shafted by them back in 1913 when The Federal Reserve Act was stealthily snuck through Congress on Christmas Eve.
It goes into great detail regarding the secret meeting on Jekyll Island.
This is the history practically NOBODY knows. The DVD is worth owning and sharing.
I hope everyone will avail themselves of it. I watched it twice and it completely changed the way I look at the world and particularly the politics of what is happening right now.
Russia has tons of natural gas and oil. They are about to start dealing in their natural resources in rubles worldwide. Obama is already threatening to secure Bush's missile defense system in Europe and Russia will then be forced to secure it's own missile defense system in Venezuela and Iran.
Zbigniew Brzezinski is Obama's chief foreign policy adviser and as we all know, Brzezinski worked with Reagan, Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Bush, Sr. during the Reagan years. He is itching to involve us militarily with Russian and he is behind Obama wanting a "surge" in Afghanistan which will be a fool's errand. Just ask Russia how fighting in Afghanistan goes.
The world is still being run by the Neocon's even with the wonderful Barack Obama just being elected with the promise of CHANGE.
Then why has he selected Rahm Emanuel, a dual citizen of Israel, who actually fought in the Israeli military and has a father who was an Israeli "terrorist" to be his Chief of Staff? Emanuel was fully for Bush's invasion of Iraq. As was Biden.
We need transparency in the financial system (The Federal Reserve) and in the halls of Congress. We need a full investigation into the events of 9/11 which has never been done. Hundreds of relevant questions remain unanswered.
Obama has a chance to bring light to all these matters and to make substantive changes in our rotten, militaristic and destabilizing foreign policy and in the way we handle The Federal Reserve, Wall Street and Main Street.
The American People are hurting now and couple all this with no health care and you have a potential tinder box that could blow.
This article will give you an idea of how dangerous the world situation really is right now:
www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=10865
And finally, thanks to Mark Cuban for setting up this site. I'll start linking it around.
Thank you for doing this! The audacity of the current administration and how little it respects the Public it is supposedly serving is beyond belief. Your information has been sent to all of my representives and is very useful. Hopefully, one-day, what really is going on will come to the light of day - through the efforts of people like you and bloomberg news.
Good day.
Cleveland.com reported 11/22/08 (JMCO = Just my cynical opinion) - I wonder which party affiliations the 30 attorneys are?...
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, citing current and projected business conditions, has advised 30 attorneys and paralegals to "explore career opportunities elsewhere."
The report said Squire Sanders is in merger talks with Chicago-based Seyfarth Shaw, which has 750 lawyers in offices throughout the U.S. and in Brussels, Belgium.
The work force cuts are despite Square Sanders' selection as one of two firms that will help the Treasury Department administer the $700 billion bailout package. The contract is expected to be worth about $5.5 million.