Vermont's Sanders Launches More Attacks on Bernanke

Sen. Bernie Sanders is breathing down the collar of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: The Vermont independent has demanded more information from the central bank chief following last week's revelations about the true extent of the Fed’s 2008 bailout of corporations, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sanders, who wrote the congressional legislation forcing last week’s Fed data dump, wants internal phone logs and e-mails about low-interest Fed loans that went to thousands of takers, not just collapsing banks or manufacturers.

Sanders called the bailout “a clear case of socialism for the rich” in a letter sent on Monday to Bernanke. Loan recipients included some high rollers who apparently were not in financial distress: businessman H. Wayne Huizenga, hedge-fund manager John Paulson and computer entrepreneur Michael Dell, among others.

Sanders also suggested the Fed might still be withholding information that Congress ordered the agency to make public. The Fed has defended its response to the banking crash of 2008 as an effort to revive a global economy that was near total collapse. But Fed officials have resisted disclosing details of the program.