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| Economy |
| TARP, the Criminal Enterprise? |
| 2009-04-26 |
| Larry Kudlow Is the whole TARP plan a criminal enterprise? Sounds farfetched, I suppose. But after reading about Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky's report, it may well be that TARP is just one big criminal problem. Listen to this: Barofsky's investigators reported Monday that they have opened 20 criminal probes into possible securities fraud, tax-law violations, insider-trading, and mortgage-modification fraud related to TARP. Yup, those are criminal probes. Barofsky is the special IG overseeing the bailout program. And for some reason the mainstream media refuses to report this on the front pages where it belongs. Barofsky's report spans 247 pages. And it says that the very character of the bailout program makes it "inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse, including significant issues related to conflicts of interest facing fund managers, collusion between participants and vulnerabilities to money laundering." By the way, one of Barofsky's recommendations is for Treasury to abandon its whole plan of buying toxic assets from banks and investors. The IG's report also notes that what started last October as a single-purpose $750 billion effort to buy toxic securities has morphed into twelve separate programs that cover up to $3 trillion in direct spending, loans, and loan guarantees. In other words, TARP is nearly equal in size to the entire federal budget. Now, Geithner & Co. has said very little about this. Even in yesterday's TARP oversight hearing, very little was said about the Barofsky critique. That's too bad, because this is a crucial area of investigation. TARP is badly in need of reform -- or maybe better yet, badly in need of termination. Think about this: TARP, which is now linked to substantial criminal activity, has ballooned to the size of a second federal budget and represents the biggest government-directed intrusion into the economy in history -- vastly bigger than the New Deal. And not only is there TARP for banks, insurance companies, and non-bank financial institutions, but also for GM, Chrysler, and various auto suppliers, and perhaps soon enough for credit cards, newspapers, and other sectors of the economy. This is why I believe the era of democratic free-market capitalism is coming to an end. It is being replaced by state-directed corporatism on a grand scale. This is central planning that goes way beyond the American tradition. Now we will wait and see if the investigative process for TARP turns into a judicial process, and whether this criminal enterprise puts the long arm of the law onto specific, individual criminals. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 That and pure and simple corruption. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-04-26 21:08 |
| #9 Income and Purchase Taxation is the greatest barrier to money moving through the economy. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-04-26 19:35 |
| #8 The purpose of TARP, as I understand it, was to get money moving through the economy via the financial institutions. From the perspective of those executing the plan, binding the mouths of the kine that tread the corn is counterproductive, as that money will move, too -- if only enriching the product that all cattle produce at the far end. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-04-26 19:32 |
| #7 And not only is there TARP for banks, insurance companies, and non-bank financial institutions, but also for GM, Chrysler, and various auto suppliers, and perhaps soon enough for credit cards, newspapers, and other sectors of the economy. Don't forget pensions as many have been invested in securities. Some plans are so liberal, like the Omaha Police Union's, they offer something like 120% of full pay after 20 years, when the city is hurting. Ugly ads flying around and a tight mayoral race, yet the media keeps the people in the dark and they haven't realized the scope of the problem yet. |
| Posted by: Thealing Borgia 122 2009-04-26 17:30 |
| #6 Fascism is a the government and big business bolted together? What better word do you have? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-04-26 16:38 |
| #5 That's the problem with the *F* word. It's degenerated in its usage to a simple pejorative like the *N* word losing its contextual meaning other than -insert mindless hate here- usage. Thus as the old Aesop tale goes, when actual Fascism does show up, no one pays attention to the real alarm. Human behavior hasn't changed much in 2,500 years. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-04-26 16:09 |
| #4 I also think it looks like the well connected (to the state) bondholders are being bailed-out at the expense of (largely shareholder level) taxpayers. None may dare call it fascism? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-04-26 15:33 |
| #3 Many things besides the currency have been and are being manipulated. It's far more than a political issue. Economy will tend to stagnate until people are convinced they are not being taken for ride. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-04-26 15:19 |
| #2 > This is why I believe the era of democratic free-market capitalism is coming to an end. It ended with Basel 2. Capitalism needs a stable currency to work and the currency was massively manipulated for political benefit. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-04-26 12:23 |
| #1 "Lets look at the record". |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-04-26 12:01 |