Lots of big bank whining today as the Fed turns over the names of the banks that borrowed from its discount window during our last financial crisis. The Fed fought tooth and nail to keep the names secret under the theory that disclosing them would somehow cause the markets to punish the banks because they'd basically be viewed as insolvent. Which, actually, a large number of them were during the crisis. Bloomberg has the story.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon vows that his firm won't ever borrow from the Discount Window again because of this disclosure stigmata, and generally bankers have been whining and gnashing their teeth over this ruffling of their secrecy. To which I say, talk to me when you're actually facing the choice of either having your company go under or borrowing from the Discount Window. I'll put money down that you'll be borrowing from that window. Talk is cheap when you're not facing any risk. And given the amount of money that the taxpayers had to funnel and/or guarantee to the big banks, they should just shut up on this point.
