"Treasury's toxic asset funds gain 27 percent" (TARP)

[Clio the Leo]

Treasury's toxic asset funds gain 27 percent
WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:12am EST

(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury's toxic asset funds have gained 27 percent since they were created to help revive the mortgage-backed securities market, according to data expected to be released later on Monday.

As part of the government's deeply unpopular $700 billion bailout program, the funds were set up to remove illiquid securities from banks by matching private capital with taxpayer money and Treasury loans via funds run by private investment managers.

Although furor over the bailout helped Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in the recent election, the government has been recouping taxpayers' money.

The eight toxic asset funds, run by asset managers such as BlackRock Inc, Invesco Ltd and Marathon Asset Management, are all profitable.

Since the funds were established in 2009, they have used about $5.2 billion of Treasury's equity investment to buy toxic assets. As of the end of 2010, the funds have gained $1.1 billion to about $6.3 billion, according to the data.

Including some $300 million in equity distributions, the Treasury's investment increased by 27 percent or $1.4 billion, according to the data.

<snip>

As of December 31, the funds had about $29.4 billion of purchasing power and had drawn down about 70 percent of the total amount, according to the data.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the ultimate cost of the bank bailout, or the Troubled Asset Relief Program, will be as low as $25 billion.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Kim Coghill)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70N0U220110124?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

[girl gone mad]

1. Reporters should really learn how to read a balance sheet..

and learn the difference between smoke and mirrors mark-to-myth accounting and reality.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the ultimate cost of the bank bailout, or the Troubled Asset Relief Program, will be as low as $25 billion.

Oh, wow.. that's a relief! Only 25 billion! Except, wait, that doesn't include the tax forgiveness schemes that allowed BOA and Citigroup to pretend to "pay back" TARP or the trillions in MBS purchases that did likewise for the rest of these bankster grifters.

We are on really dangerous ground and spreading lies doesn't help. I think progressives deserve to know the truth about the very real, very precarious state of our financial system.

One of my biggest regrets in life is that I wasn't more outspoken about the housing bubble. I knew about it well ahead of time. I knew all about securitization and massive mortgage fraud. I knew exactly how it would end. I even ran a popular blog about it up until the collapse. However, in my personal life, when friends and family members were buying at the peak, I warned them, but I always backed down from their persistent denial and happy talk. Now I witness with great sadness the ultimate outcome, as people I love and care about have lost tens of thousands of dollars, been stuck with unsaleable property or have been forced out of their homes after failed attempts at modification.

The fraudsters may well steal trillions more from America's middle class, but I'm determined that it won't come out of the pockets of my allies - not without a massive fight this time.

[ThomCat]

2. +1

Do you really think they would keep their jobs long if they read those balance sheets accurately?

They are keeping their jobs and getting paid for being deliberately optimistic regardless of reality. If that means that they help sell smoke and mirrors, because that is what they want true believers to see and buy into, then that is what gets put out there.

It isn't even as if they aren't being obvious about it.