The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) released its quarterly report to Congress recently on the federal government's massive TARP program. And it isn't pretty. Among the conclusions of the report: TARP is far more massive than originally planned. The program is rife with corruption. And the Obama Treasury Department has violated its pledge of transparency and refuses to require TARP fund recipients to report how the funds are being used. The following are a few excerpts from the report:
"TARP, as originally envisioned in the fall of 2008, would have involved the purchase, management, and sale of up to $700 billion of "toxic" assets, primarily troubled mortgages and mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"). That framework was soon shelved, however, and TARP funds are being used, or have been announced to be used, in connection with 12 separate programs that…involve a total (including TARP funds, loans and guarantees from other agencies, and private money) that could reach nearly $3 trillion." The report goes on to note that "TARP is just a small part of the federal government's overall scheme to bailout the financial system, valued by SIGTARP at $23.7 trillion."
"Through June 30, 2009, SIGTARP has 35 ongoing criminal and civil investigations. These investigations include complex issues concerning suspected accounting fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, mortgage servicer misconduct, mortgage fraud, public corruption, false statements and tax investigations.
"Although Treasury has taken some steps towards improving transparency in TARP programs, it has repeatedly failed to adopt recommendations that SIGTARP believes are essential to providing basic transparency and fulfill Treasury's stated commitment to implement TARP 'with the highest degree of accountability and transparency possible.'"
"Unfortunately, in rejecting SIGTARP's basic transparency recommendations, TARP has become a program in which taxpayers (i) are not being told what most of the TARP recipients are doing with their money, (ii) have still not been told how much their substantial investments are worth, and (iii) will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested. In SIGTARP's view, 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."
This is pretty tough language for sure. But did anyone actually believe this was going to go down any differently? Did anyone really expect the government to keep the scope of the program modest, or to be able to manage the massive amount of corruption that always seems to accompany big government programs? Did anyone expect Treasury to care about the American taxpayer and their right to know what is being done with their hard-earned money? The government's massive bailout of our financial institutions does not lead to corruption. It is corruption. Judicial Watch has said this from the beginning.
The federal government has no business meddling in the private sector in this overwhelming fashion. And even Democrats in Congress are critical of the Obama Treasury Department. In hearings with TARP Inspector General Neil Barosky about his report, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) said, "The taxpayers now have a $700 billion spending program that's being run under the philosophy of 'don't ask, don't tell.'" Judicial Watch is committed to securing as much transparency as possible for the government's bailout scheme and has already uncovered some important documents related to the government's mob-style "deal" made with the nation's banks. Judicial Watch's investigation of "bailout nation" is perhaps the most comprehensive in its 15 year history. As this newsletter goes to press, there are at least 36 pending Freedom of Information
Act requests by Judicial Watch on the $24 trillion government takeover of our nation's economy. JW
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