As Americans continued to suffer a declining economy, high unemployment, and rising prices, the US Federal Reserve raked in a record $81.7 billion profit in 2010 – a 53 percent increase for 2009.
The Fed’s intervention into the US financial crisis has paid off well for the bank. It is reaping profits for bailing out failing banks and buying US government debt, and then charging interest on top of it.
Annual financial statements for the system showed the bank increased its overall asset holdings by $193 billion in 2010, reaching a total of $2.428 trillion to date.
The Fed’s push for quantitative easing, while it may not have currently corrected the US markets, certainly increased the bank’s own revenue stream. Analysts say the increase was driven heavily by the Fed’s purchase of billions of dollars in Treasury bonds.
The bank’s holdings in US Treasury securities rose by nearly $261 billion in 2010, reaching a total of $1.06 trillion.
As Wall Street and the nation’s bankers rejoice, millions of Americans across the country remain unemployed, collecting welfare, unable to pay for food and other necessities. The housing market remains depressed and the future appears bleak.