The Fed released most of the data on its special lending facilities yesterday. (We are still waiting for fuller information on the collateral that was posted.) The world did not end. In fact, there is no evidence that the release of the data created any economic or financial disruptions whatsoever.

This is not surprising, since there is no reason that informing the public about what the Fed did with their money should create financial disruptions, however this is exactly what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and others argued when they originally objected to the release of this information. The origins of this release are in an audit the Fed bill that had Ron Paul as it original sponsor. He was later joined on the left by Alan Grayson and Bernie Sanders, as the leading proponents of the bill.

The idea that the Fed should be held accountable to the Congress and the public was originally treated as a crank notion pushed by extremists who did not understand modern finance. Well, the data are now public and there has been no implosion. Yet again, it turns out that the cranks were right, and those in positions of authority were either ill-informed or lying.

This article originally appeared on Firedoglake.