Aussie Banks Received Secret Loans?

My interest in the item below stems from the mysterious and inexplicable loans extended by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the third quarter of 2008 to several Australian banks such as the National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia:

Persistent Federal Reserve critic Representative Ron Paul plans to hold a hearing on the U.S. central bank's emergency loans to the branches of non-U.S. banks, his spokeswoman said on Saturday.

"I was surprised and deeply disturbed ... to learn the staggering amount of money that went to foreign banks," Paul said in a statement. "These lending activities provided no benefit to American taxpayers, the American economy, or even directly to American banks," he said.

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