Wall Street's Greatest Heist: The TARP

[Panaconda]

Wall Street's Greatest Heist: The TARP



The notion that without the $700bn bailout we would be reduced to bartering was a ruse by the banks to get taxpayers' money

by Dean Baker

Two years ago, the top honchos at the Fed, Treasury and the Wall Street banks were running around like Chicken Little warning that the world was about to end. This fear-mongering, together with a big assist from the elite media (thatis, NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, etc), earned the banks their $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) blank cheque bailout. This money, along with even more valuable loans and loan guarantees from the Fed and FDIC, enabled them to survive the crisis they had created. As a result, the big banks are bigger and more profitable than ever.

Now, the same crew that tapped our pockets two years ago is eagerly pitching the line that their bailout was good for us. It may be the case that the history books are written by the winners, but that doesn't prevent the rest of us from telling the truth.

Let's step back to where we were two years ago. The huge investment bank Bear Stearns had collapsed. So had Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants. Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank had also gone down. AIG, the country's largest insurer, had been put on life support by the government. At this point, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the three remaining independent investment banks, all faced runs that would quickly sink them without government intervention. Citigroup and Bank of America, two of the three largest commercial banks, were also almost certainly insolvent. Many other banks also faced insolvency, especially if they took big losses on their loans to other institutions that were about to go bankrupt.

This was when the Wall Street boys made their mad rush for the public trough. They enlisted everyone that mattered in the effort, including Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke, and Timothy Geithner, then the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/20/tarp-bailout-banks-wall-street

[cbdo2007]

1. Just adding that the guy who pushed Tarp through - Roy Blunt is running for a Senate seat

here in Missour in November.

Jean Carnahan could beat him if she would start jamming some of these truths down the throats of Missourian's rather than letting Blunt walk all over her.

[chill_wind]

2. Institutionalized Fraud.

But thank gawd it passed!!

Auerback: TARP Was Not a Success – It Simply Institutionalized Fraud
By Marshall Auerback, a portfolio analyst, hedge fund manager, and Roosevelt Institute fellow

There’s a good reason why the Troubled Asset Relief Program (aka “TARP”) is “a success none dare mention”, to use the title of Ben Smith’s latest post at Politico. Put simply, it’s not a success. Calling the TARP a success is like claiming your wastrel son is getting his life together because he’s settled his gambling debts, while omitting that you are paying for his apartment, got him an overpaid job at your company, and are handing him $100 bills more than occasionally.

Indeed, the only way to call TARP a winner is by defining government sanctioned financial fraud as the main metric of results. The finance leaders who are guilty of wrecking much of the global economy remain in power – while growing extraordinarily wealthy in the process. They know that their primary means of destruction was accounting “control fraud”, a term coined by Professor Bill Black, who argued that “Control frauds occur when those that control a seemingly legitimate entity use it as a ‘weapon’ to defraud.” TARP did nothing to address this abuse; indeed, it perpetuates it. Are we now using lying and fraud as the measure of success for financial reform?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/09/auerback-tarp-was-not-a-success-%E2%80%93-it-simply-institutionalize-fraud.html

[PoliticAverse]

3. TARP was certainly a success...

a successful ripoff.

[phasma ex machina]

4. Billionaire Charlie Munger To The Rest Of Us: "suck it in and cope."

During a discussion at the Universtiy fo Michigan, the 86 year old told the 25 million of Americans who comprise the 16.7% of the underemployed population in the country, to "suck it in and cope." Not only that, but apparently, all those who have been without a job for 99 weeks and more and no longer have recourse to insurance benefits, should "thank God for bank bailouts." Why of course he would say that: after all $26 billion worth of direct BRK investments were the recipient of over $95 billion in bailouts. So when it comes to him, thank god for the bailout indeed... But when it comes to the little man, old Charlie is all about doing the right thing. (link)

[Panaconda]

10. That cartoon

is so appropriate and accurate.

[w8liftinglady]

12. ah,yes....Roy Blunt...a history of wonderful acts

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roy_Blunt

Iraq War

Oil Voting Record

Tom DeLay

Ties to tobacco industry

Matt Blunt

Jack Abramoff

Trips by staffers

[Norrin Radd]

5. kr

[Starry Messenger]

6. k & r

[spanone]

7. courtesy of george w. bu$h*

[maryf]

8. I'd like to be reduced to bartering myself.

K&R

[Nye Bevan]

9. Not sure I agree with this paragraph

Had it not been for the bailout, most of the major centre banks would have been wiped out. This would have destroyed the fortunes of their shareholders, many of their creditors, and their top executives. This would have been a massive redistribution to the rest of society – their loss is our gain.

So I would have received a check in the mail for my share of the lost wealth when Citibank or Chase went bust? Somehow I think not.

[Hydra]

13. Actually, in a way you would have

All of these top banks that have their hands firmly digging in the treasury now would have been wiped out, and the smaller banks would have politely stepped in to take over their business and we might actually be getting somewhere.

Instead, the too big to fails are getting bigger and aren't lending- and looking for more money from us.

It's really kind of crazy, when you think about it.

[blindpig]

11. k&r

more crimes for the memory hole....

[cbdo2007]

14. This is funny - from the GOP new "Pledge to America"

"End TARP Once And For All: Americans are rightly outraged at the bailouts of businesses and entities that force responsible taxpayers to subsidize irresponsible behavior. We will cancel the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a move that would save taxpayers roughly $16 billion."

hahahahah hahaha haha hahahaha hahahaha

Didn't anyone tell them that this was their idea and pushed forward by THEM?!?!?

This is surely a kick in the pants to Roy Blunt now for pushing this through. Get your skewers ready people, this November is going to be easier than I thought.