“Which Foreigners Got the Fed’s $500,000,000,000?” Bernanke: “I Don’t Know.”

This is Congressman Alan Grayson questioning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on $550B of loans to foreigners (or ‘central liquidity swaps’ in Federal Reserve-ese’).

Which financial institutions received this money? Bernanke’s answer: I don’t know.

As the Fed was lending this money, the dollar increased by 30% in value. Grayson asks, was this a coincidence? Bernanke’s answer: yes.