Overseers of TARP "Bewildered"

A new report released yesterday charges the $700 billion dollar bail-out is almost unmanageable and unaccountable. Surprise, surprise. The report looks into how the Department of the Treasury is spending the money. U.S. stocks have declined 40 percent this year, 12 of the nation's largest financial institutions are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and 171 banks are on the Treasury's "problem list." Since Congress approved the bailout in October, the Treasury has allocated some $335 billion, but some of the most fundamental questions about where that money went remain unanswered.

"It is unclear" the report -- written by a panel led by Harvard Law professor and bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren (many might know her from the film "Maxed Out")-- says at one point, and it continues that way for some time, wondering "What is Treasury's Strategy?" "Is the Strategy Working?" What Have Financial Institutions Done with the Taxpayers' Money?"

The most strongly worded section appears on page 20, when the panel charges Treasury with administering "the TARP program without seeking to monitor the use of funds provided to specific financial institutions." It adds: "Treasury cannot simply trust that the financial institutions will act in the desired ways; it must verify."

This is how it works? The Big Three get grilled about a $15 billion dollar loan, (which it is clear the opposition is against the UAW, not the big three because of the "average hourly wage of workers) and the financial institutions are given $700 billion to do as they please with no oversight. Unbelievable. The people who have destroyed our economy and have shot-up jobless claims rise to a new 26 year high of 573 thousand are given money with no oversight to pump their bad loans and bad product so we spend money that is ever losing its value. Yet, car companies who admittedly need to change their whole structure, but need a boost to save at least three million jobs and restructure to compete in the 21st century economy are left out on a limb. The House passed the bail-out bill, but passage in the Senate is not assured.

I hope Obama is watching because the Democratic Congress passed this. Yes, we still have a President that is a bonified moron, but the Democrats passed this with no oversight and gave a gift to the financial institutions who need a swift kick in the ass. Talk about corporate welfare.