You need to know this. Forget about the $700 billion dollars in federal aid known as TARP that went to the banksters back in 2008. That was just the tip of the iceberg. According to new secret documents released yesterday by the Federal Reserve - between 2007 and this year - the Fed pumped more than 3 trillion dollars into the hands of banks and businesses to stave off financial collapse. 3 trillion dollars! Most of that money came in the form of short term lending - banks were given billions of dollars at interest rates of a half percent or even sometimes as low as .0077%. That's essentially free money. So exactly who benefited from this secret low-interest lending program by the Fed? The usual suspects - Citigroup - Lehman Brothers - and Merrill Lynch. Foreign banks took advantage too - like UBS of Switzerland and BNP Paribas of France. Also - Americans businesses like McDonalds - Verizon - and Caterpillar received some of the cake as well. Suntrust Bank received about $7.5 billion - directly from their own CEO who happened to also be serving on the Board of Directors at the Atlanta Federal Reserve at the time. At the height of this program - in 2008 - the Fed had over $1.5 trillion in outstanding loans. The release of these documents - showing more than 21,000 transactions unknown until now - highlights the need for a more transparent Federal Reserve. An issue that's been advanced by Members of Congress like Ron Paul in the House and Bernie Sanders in the Senate. It also shows just how strong Wall Street's grip on our government is. Banksters profited off this program and now sit on mountains of cash - while small businesses suffer around the country and can't get their own loans. The very same financial institutions that received loans at an interest rate of less than a half percent - now are charging their credit card users a 30% interest rate. Sound fair to you?? On top of that - these institutions spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress during the financial reform debate - while at the same time they were borrowing free money from the government. This is insanity. It's time to change our priorities in our country.

-Thom

(What do you think should have been done with the money? Tell us here.)

Today on the Big Picture...Fed Shocker & How do we save the progressive agenda? On RT TV at 9pm and 11pm... (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Screwed: Filibuster rule – Repubs pledge to block every bill until rich gets tax cuts. Guest: Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

Need to Know: Tax Cuts/House Vote House Passes Middle-Class Tax Cuts Over GOP Objections and Boehner: House vote on Bush tax cuts is ‘chicken crap’. With Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY).

Best of the Rest: Fed Shocker & How do we save the progressive agenda? Secret Fed aid to banks & Saving Progressivism from Obama. Guest: Robert Kuttner, Co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect and a Sr. Fellow at Demos.

Wikileaks: Obama officials convinced Spain not to prosecute Bush administration for torture. Guest: Katherine Gallagher, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Vice-President on the International Board of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

Green Report: Why are polluters getting a pass? Guest: Kristen Lombardi, staff writer (former investigative reporter) - Center for Public Integrity.

Now you can read all of Thom Hartmann's "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" for free online. Truthout is publishing weekly installments over 12 weeks.

Read Chapter 3, Stop Them From Eating My Town now.