Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Mysteries of the Universe

. Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Matt Taibbi asks a good question:

Why, I wondered, would the Federal Reserve be giving Muammar Qaddafi $26 billion in near-zero interest loans?


I have no idea.

3 comments:

Thomas Oatley said...

Because it isn't.

US Treasury: "General License No. 1A authorizes all transactions involving banks that are owned or controlled by the Government of Libya and organized under the laws of a country other than Libya, provided the transactions do not otherwise involve the Government of Libya or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked." http://tinyurl.com/3fermhx
See also
http://tinyurl.com/3f8pwql

Thus, not lending money to Qadaffi. Lending money to a bank incorporated in Bahrain of which the Libyan central bank is the majority share holder.

Kindred Winecoff said...

Right, that's in the article. But assuming that Gaddafi is able to repatriate funds from Bahrain to Tripoli isn't that just semantics?

Thomas Oatley said...

maybe, but that would seem to depend on Bahrain's willingness to enforce the UN freeze. And the US willingness to punish them if they don't.

Mysteries of the Universe
 

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