"Big Six" US Banks Netted Billions Via Secret Federal Reserve Loans

Maybe Not.

Have you ever wanted to get a loan at a below-market interest rate? Well, not so long ago, one highly publicized way was to get a VIP mortgage from Countrywide Financial. Dozens of Fannie Mae officials did exactly that. However, that's small potatoes compared to the secret, below-market interest rate loans the Federal Reserve dished out to major US banks.

The Fed fought Bloomberg News in court -- and fought hard -- to keep the information about these loans from public access. Thankfully, Bloomberg won and has published a story about who got what. It's a very unsavory tale, in which banking titans and the Fed lied to the public and stonewalled Congress. The usual Wall Street suspects are at the top of this corporate welfare list. The stakes were enormous, but so were the rewards: $13 billion net profit for the banks that were treated to the Fed's dole.

It's understandable that the Fed wanted to prop up these bankrupt institutions. It is unacceptable that information about the use of tax money -- generations of tax money, given the scale of the bailouts -- be kept from the American people. What are these institutions afraid of? Their high-handed approach only contributes to suspicions that both the federal bureaucracy and major financial players are profoundly corrupt.

Meanwhile, to the reporters who fought the Fed and won -- thank you.