U.S. Free-Market Model on Trial just as Price Action has Improved, Definitely a Paradox Developing for ALL, you decide...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. congressional calls for the Federal Reserve to shed more light on its lending programs have yet to ease up. On Friday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, urging him to release a full list of Wall Street firms that have received extraordinary aid. "It is not justifiable to have the Federal Reserve Board fail to provide this information," said the group, which includes lawmakers such as Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Bernard Sanders, I-Vt. In the letter, the senators argued that with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and other firms reporting large profits, there isn't more reason for the Fed to keep secret the names of financial firms that have received emergency assistance from the central bank. The senators aren't alone in their concerns about transparency at the Fed. A growing number of lawmakers, frustrated over central-bank rescues of firms such as American International Group Inc. (AIG), have criticized the central bank for being shrouded in secrecy. Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House of Representatives wrote a letter to President Barack Obama asking for an investigation of the central bank. They questioned the Fed's role in fostering Bank of America Corp.'s (BAC) acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., as well as the Obama administration's plans to grant the central bank new powers to oversee the U.S. financial system. Senators on Friday said they are specifically concerned about a lack of transparency surrounding the central bank's use of a special emergency authority to lend in "unusual and exigent circumstances" to address problems threatening the financial system. Amid financial panic last year, the Fed invoked the authority in an unprecedented decision to allow investment banks to access direct lending from the central bank. "In light of recent announcements by Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), and others that are reporting very large profits after paying back the TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] funds to the U.S. government, we don't believe there is now any reason for the Federal Reserve Board to refuse to share information about the companies that were helped by its activities as well as the specific amount of such help for each company," the senators wrote. They continued in the letter: "We now urge you to release the names of financial institutions that have received the emergency assistance and how much each has received. The American taxpayers' funds have been placed at risk, and we believe the American people deserve a thorough examination of the Federal Reserve Board's Wall Street bailout activities to determine how these funds were used." -By Maya Jackson Randall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9255; maya.jackson-randall@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=%2Ba5Lz8J90kdQ%2F%2Fo1CwsSQw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 31, 2009 12:16 ET (16:16 GMT) Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 12 16 PM EDT 07-31-09