Transparency Not Needed for TARP Funds After All

Amanda Carey | July 21, 2009

The Washington Examiner reports exactly just how much the federal government has paid thus far for bank bailouts:

The federal government has devoted $4.7 trillion to help the financial sector through its crisis, a level of assistance equal to about one-third of the overall U.S. economy, a watchdog report said Monday.

Under the worst of circumstances, the report said, the government's maximum exposure could total nearly $24 trillion, or $80,000 for every American.

The figures are part of a tough new quarterly report to Congress from special inspector general Neil Barofsky, who accuses the Treasury Department of repeatedly failing to adopt recommendations aimed at making one component of the government financial rescue effort more accountable and transparent.

In that same report, Barofsky criticized the Treasury for not taking the steps to ensure accountability through transparency in how the TARP money is being used; something Obama promised numerous times during the campaign. "The very credibility of TARP (and thus in large measure its chance of success) depends on whether Treasury will commit, in deed as in word, to operate TARP with the highest degree of transparency possible," Barofsky told the Examiner.

The question now: As TARP is doled out to the banks, will Obama make good on his promise?

More from Reason about Obama's promise of transparency here.

Comments

|7.21.09 @ 6:32PM|#

The question now: As TARP is doled out to the banks, will Obama make good on his promise?

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa.

Whew! Good one.

|7.21.09 @ 6:33PM|#

If I didn't know better, I'd say it's a freakin conspiracy.

|7.21.09 @ 6:36PM|#

This guy is so fired.

|7.21.09 @ 6:37PM|#

The good news is that by 2012, the $80,000 we each owe will be worth about as much as a loaf of bread or a new house, so it'll be easy to pay off.

Sean W. Malone|7.21.09 @ 7:53PM|#

What is up with Reason being a day & a half behind my blogs lately? C'mon guys, I require you to feed me the information that I later blog about, not the other way around!

|7.21.09 @ 9:46PM|#

Folks, please... The TARP mess was delivered by that dunderhead, Duhbya-

comrade|7.21.09 @ 10:01PM|#

With absolutely no reinforcement of that mess whatsoever from The One.

KingShamus|7.21.09 @ 10:59PM|#

Joe_D | July 21, 2009, 6:37pm | #
"The good news is that by 2012, the $80,000 we each owe will be worth about as much as a loaf of bread or a new house, so it'll be easy to pay off."

---------------------------
I get the strategy. We have 'funemployment' now. In a few years, we'll get 'Winflation'.

Those will be some sweet times.

hmm|7.21.09 @ 10:59PM|#

As TARP is doled out to the banks, will Obama make good on his promise?

Yes he will. As long as your company name is anything but Goldman Sachs and you stay on his good side.

I'm trying like hell not to go all tinfoil, but man the BS is getting blatant.

Amethyst Gypsy Ugg Sandals|7.21.09 @ 11:39PM|#

Hi, nice post. I have been thinking about this topic,so thanks for writing. I will definitely be coming back to your site. Keep up great writing

Tricky Prickears |7.22.09 @ 6:30AM|#

For what it's worth:

I was just in a meeting yesterday with a client of mine. He owns a small real estate company and has been building homes for speculation for over 20 years. Currently, he's building a custom home for someone. He owns a couple of acres adjacent to the property. He wants to build some townhouses on it (right now anything under about $200,000 is actually moving). He can't get financing to build. The zoning, permits and all the government shit is not a problem. The banks won't lend money. So, here we have a real job creator who can't run a business due to lack of funding. Somebody explain to me again what exactly TARP was for.

|7.22.09 @ 7:57AM|#

IS anyone actually surprised by this? They shouldnt be!

RT
www.anonweb.net.tc

creech|7.22.09 @ 9:34AM|#

Tricky: if your friend has been successful for 20 years, he probably has a nice net worth? And if he believes stongly in the success of the townhouse project (there's little risk), then - with a personal guarantee - he should be able to find a local or regional bank to provide construction financing. He's just not going to find the favorable terms he might have found three years ago. And that is as it should be.

|7.22.09 @ 9:57AM|#

The banks won't lend money.

Sure they will.

To someone with good enough credit.

At a high enough interest rate.

With adequate security.

|7.22.09 @ 10:41AM|#

As they used to say, "Any bank will lend you money. As long as you can prove you don't really need it."

|7.22.09 @ 12:31PM|#

P Brooks, I still say that today. If a borrower comes to me looking for a loan because they need the money now, they're probably already too late.

Let that be a lesson to you kids out there. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Get things in place to help you weather the worst before you need them, and then hope you never do.

Sean W. Malone|7.22.09 @ 1:28PM|#

"Folks, please... The TARP mess was delivered by that dunderhead, Duhbya-"

I don't think there's anyone around here who's unaware of this fact. Further - I don't know about anyone else, but I was rabidly writing my congresspeople and cursing Hank Paulson daily at the time. Obama, however - as Gillespie & Welch said the other day - has doubled down on the Bush policies, so the whole "blame bush" thing doesn't carry a lot of water. Yeah, he started it - and Bush was a terrible president with a hell of a lot of terrible ideas - so why hasn't Obama actually changed course!? If you're gonna run on "change" and on not being Bush (which was kind of silly), then I dunno... Maybe you should actually do something different!

|7.23.09 @ 12:34AM|#

Not to mention Obama actively called congressmen to lobby for the bailout package W and Paulson put together...it was a "bipartisian" package...it "wasn't about political parties". Christ, you can't pretend to not remember.

buiding and construction magaz|7.29.09 @ 7:27AM|#

Hi, nice post. I have been thinking about this topic,so thanks for writing. I will definitely be coming back to your site. Keep up great writing