“Someone threw us in the middle of the Atlantic ocean without a life raft. We are trying to determine which is the closest shore and whether there is any chance in the world to swim that far. We don’t know.” - Dem. Rep. Paul Kanjorski

Electronic Run On Banks - $550 Billion Withdrawn In 1 Hour, Federal Reserve Halts Withdrawals - US Economy Would Have Collapsed Capitalism Gone Wild hat tip Cathy

Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania explains what former Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke told congress during the September 2008 closed door session. During the first third of the video an enraged caller is ranting to Rep. Kanjorski about how wasteful the first $700 billion bail...

“Someone threw us in the middle of the Atlantic ocean without a life raft. We are trying to determine which is the closest shore and whether there is any chance in the world to swim that far. We don’t know.” - Dem. Rep. Paul Kanjorski

Electronic Run On Banks - $550 Billion Withdrawn In 1 Hour, Federal Reserve Halts Withdrawals - US Economy Would Have Collapsed Capitalism Gone Wild hat tip Cathy

Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania explains what former Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke told congress during the September 2008 closed door session. During the first third of the video an enraged caller is ranting to Rep. Kanjorski about how wasteful the first $700 billion bailout was. The best part is 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the tape where Rep. Kanjorski reveals what Paulson and Bernanke told congress that shocked them into supporting the first $700 billion bailout.

On Monday Sept 15, 2008 at roughly 11 AM The Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the USA to the tune of $550 Billion dollars in a matter of an hour or two. Money was being removed electronically.

The Treasury tried to help, opened their window and pumped in $150 Billion but quickly realized they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. So they decided to closed down the accounts.

. . . . Had they not closed down the accounts they estimated that by 2 PM that afternoon. Within 3 hours. $5.5 Trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the United States would have collapsed, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.

Kanjorski also explains why Paulson spent the bailout money differently than he originally proposed.

Some other gems from the recording:

It would have been the end of our economic and political system.

We would have had to spend 3 to 4 Trillion dollars to buy up all the toxic assets. But we didn’t have that much we only had 700 Billion.

Without a banking system you don’t have an economy.

We are no better off now than ...

. . . . Had they not closed down the accounts they estimated that by 2 PM that afternoon. Within 3 hours. $5.5 Trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the United States would have collapsed, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.

Kanjorski also explains why Paulson spent the bailout money differently than he originally proposed.

Some other gems from the recording:

It would have been the end of our economic and political system.

We would have had to spend 3 to 4 Trillion dollars to buy up all the toxic assets. But we didn’t have that much we only had 700 Billion.

Without a banking system you don’t have an economy.

We are no better off now than we were three months ago.

Someone threw us in the middle of the Atlantic ocean without a life raft. We are trying to determine which is the closest shore and whether there is any chance in the world to swim that far. We don’t know.

More to think about. Somebody took a lot of money out of the banks. A lot.

So where did it go?
Who to?
And who got it? When? And where?

Somebody knows. Those transactions have been investigated, and somebody knows. But they ain’t talking, are they?

. . . The motive part is very interesting, isn't it? Now, a person does no wrong, in and of itself, by taking his money from his accounts, perfectly legal, and absolutely unpreventable by any means other than the government shutting down or closing the market, as it did, to prevent/stop the run.

A run is a banker's term of art, and it is like a herd stampede, or panic, or a psychosis of a lot of people.

They say 4 or 5 trillion dollars could have been emptied out of the bank by the end of that business day. Presumably, it could not have g...

. . . The motive part is very interesting, isn't it? Now, a person does no wrong, in and of itself, by taking his money from his accounts, perfectly legal, and absolutely unpreventable by any means other than the government shutting down or closing the market, as it did, to prevent/stop the run.

A run is a banker's term of art, and it is like a herd stampede, or panic, or a psychosis of a lot of people.

They say 4 or 5 trillion dollars could have been emptied out of the bank by the end of that business day. Presumably, it could not have gone all to one entity, else that entity just could have gone back when the markets opened, and continued to withdraw funds. So, if it were designed as action to induce a panic, it had to have been done in a way that the new would spread quickly, go "viral" as it were, to others holding funds or control over funds in similar banking institutions/markets. So, the transaction had to be public, or at least traceable, because they had to be noticeable, and they had to instill a panic so that the run would continue, and people would be noticing what was happening and would move to preserve and protect what money they could access.

So, it wasn't silent.

It wasn't stealth.