TARP Watchdog: "We Do Not Seem To Be A Priority For The Treasury Department"

Elizabeth Warren, in charge of oversight of the financial industry bailout, told a congressional panel Tuesday that the Treasury Department has not been cooperating with her efforts to oversee the project.

"We do not seem to be a priority for the Treasury Department," said Warren.

She added that the administration's failure to ask for more accountability has led to a situation that is difficult to oversee. "This problem starts with Treasury," she said.

Warren is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. We'll update with video when it's available.

Warren argued that "continuous subsidization without vigorous oversight is exactly what got us into this." She complimented the administration's oversight of the auto industry, but contrasted it with the lack of the same with regard to the banks.

Warren said Congress may need to enact new legislation to give itself more access to the bailout program.

Filmmaker Michael Moore was spotted sitting a few rows behind Warren, listening intently as she spoke.

Comments

[JohnSawyer]

09:55 AM on 04/01/2009

I hope all this isn't the new version of what Joseph Mengele said:

"The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it."

In the current instance, the new version might be:

"The more we do to you, even though you know we are doing it, the less you seem to find ways of doing anything about it."

[stormgazer]

08:52 AM on 04/01/2009

Of course the oversight watchdogs aren't a "priority". Goldman-Geithner doesn't want her sniffing around and finding anything out! This was the person appointed to help with that "transparency" we were promised but seems not to have materialized as yet. I'm skeptical that it ever will at this point.

[unionave]

02:22 AM on 04/01/2009

This economy will not improve until the banks begin lending . The banks will not begin lending until they have completely drained the tax payers . THE ONLY WAY OUT OF THIS MESS IS BY GOVERNMENT SETTING UP NEW CREDIT UNIONS OPERATED BY COMMUNITIES WITH PEOPLE FROM THOSE AREAS . Once the banks saw the competition they would get off their a**s and start doing business as usual . As long as the banks can threaten our government and get money without working for it they will never do anything except suck us dry .

[windrider2]

08:29 AM on 04/01/2009

You're right that the banks are just sucking us dry. But opening credit unions to compete with banks won't work because Republicans have so untethered bank lending from the amount of real cash reserves, so that banks no longer rely on customers' deposits to use for loans. They simply borrow the money from each other. Government policy and financial industry practices have driven Americans away from saving (which, these days, pays a laughable, insulting interest rate) and into gambling on the stock market. By trying persistently to bankrupt Social Security, government has succeeded in terrorizing people into "saving for retirement" by investing in what are basically nothing but shell games and Ponzi schemes. Those close to retirement age will never recover from the losses they've experienced in the current debacle. As far as I'm concerned, the government should just cut checks for the American people and let the banks fend for themselves as best they can. That would have brought the foreclosure crisis to a screeching halt at a fraction of the cost of TARP and other Wall Street bailouts.

[truthynesslover]

02:19 AM on 04/01/2009

Elizabeth Warren;

""Secretary Paulsen said the tarp was not a subsidy but after we scratched the surface we found 2 out of 3 dollares were.So the congress and the american people are being kept out of the process.


Yes we are.

[FrozenNorthObserver]

01:26 AM on 04/01/2009

"foul deeds are best done in the dark"

[Carolab]

01:21 AM on 04/01/2009

The Federal Reserve—the central bank of the United States—is the most powerful peacetime bureaucracy in the federal government. Under the chairmanship of Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), the Fed achieved near mythical status for its part in managing the economy, and Greenspan was lauded as a genius. Few seemed to notice or care that Fed officials operated secretly with almost no public accountability. There was a courageous exception to this lack of oversight, however: Henry B. Gonzalez (D-TX)—chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services (banking) Committee.

In Deception and Abuse at the Fed, Robert Auerbach, a former banking committee investigator, recounts major instances of Fed mismanagement and abuse of power that were exposed by Rep. Gonzalez, including:

* Blocking Congress and the public from holding powerful Fed officials accountable by falsely declaring—for 17 years—it had no transcripts of its meetings;

* Manipulating the stock and bond markets in 1994 under cover of a preemptive strike against inflation;

* Allowing $5.5 billion to be sent to Saddam Hussein from a small Atlanta branch of a foreign bank—the result of faulty bank examination practices by the Fed;

* Stonewalling Congressional investigations and misleading the Washington Post about the $6,300 found on the Watergate burglars.

Auerbach provides documentation of these and other abuses at the Fed, which confirms Rep. Gonzalez's belief that no government agency should be allowed to operate with the secrecy and independence in which the Federal Reserve has shrouded itself.

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/auedec.html

[Carolab]

01:29 AM on 04/01/2009

More on this book: http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/06/review_of_robert_auerbachs_dec.html

Also read William Greider's article at The Nation: Fix The Fed (available on line)

[realpolitic]

12:00 AM on 04/01/2009

For those words, she would have been fired by the Bush administration and replaced with Heckuva-job Brownie!

[BlueBoomer]

11:29 PM on 03/31/2009

I have been saying all along that Elizabeth Warren and Sheila Baird (FDIC head) are two of the smartest, most honest and effective articulators of the financial situation. I wish they could be in positions where they could have a more direct positive effect on this situation,

[scottsdalebubbe]

02:48 AM on 04/01/2009

I whole-heartedly and whole-headedly agree!!! I heard on NPR in January that Sheila Baird was on the short list of potential Sec'y of the Treasury candidates. How I wish that Obama had done something smart instead of something inexplicable and appointed her. I love Elizabeth Warren's appearences on Rachel Maddow's show.

What is Obama thinking -- or not -- to let this farce continue????? I'm having cognitive dissonance because it seems so out of character and out of smarts for Obama.

[Luvial]

10:32 PM on 03/31/2009

Elizabeth wake up. Obama is heading the criminal conspiracy you are auditing!

[breakingpoint]

10:21 PM on 03/31/2009

Audit the FED!

Let's see what's really in there

House Bill
HR 1207

[Texas Blue]

09:59 PM on 03/31/2009

On March 23 the Obama administration announced appointment of three top Treasury officials: Neal Wolin as Geithner's Deputy Secretary, Lael Brainard as undersecretary for international affairs, and Stuart Levey to continue as undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Wolin and Brainard must be confirmed by the Senate.

Perhaps, Ms. Warren, it is not a lack of priority; rather, a lack of manpower...?

[veritasor]

10:24 PM on 03/31/2009

It will get much worse because...
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/economy/nominee-for-treasurys-number-two-helped-draft-legislation-deregulating-banks/

[MyTake]

09:15 PM on 03/31/2009

This women reminds me of that gentleman who tried, for over 10 years, to get the Security and Exchange Commission to investigate Madoff. SEC ignored and stonewalled him.

Now the transnational bankers, that bribe and control congressmen and committee heads, have moved to isolate this women.

Obama will remain distant, as ordered from the powerful Bilderberg Group.

Here is Bill Clinton lying about his attending a Bilderberg meeting with his friend and Bilderberg "Presidential Candidate" recruiter, Vernon Jordan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jmzWi_nhQg .

Here is a article, written in the first person, on "Presidential Candidate" recruiter Vernon Jordan's connection to Obama: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-stevens/barack-obama-the-man-i-k_b_84866.html .

And here is the partial attendee list for the Bilderberg meeting in Virginia, last June: http://illegalprotest.com/2008/06/08/list-of-bilderberg-2008-attendees-globalists-exposed/ . Note the names of Jordan, Kissinger, Rockefeller, Bernanke, Paulsen, Summers, Geithner, Daschle, Rice, Media heads, Google, Microsoft, Meril Lynch etc.. And not a word shows up on this powerful insider gathering on the print or news media.

I am guessing, since this was in June and on the same day of the infamous secret meeting of Obama and Clinton, that they were summoned to Chantilly for their final counseling by their powerful Bilderberg masters.

[FatJoe]

09:53 PM on 03/31/2009

And then they sacrificed a baby for their grey alien masters.

Jesus, what is it with you people that straight, coherent class analysis isn't enough? You have to fictionalize shadowy overlords, when the obvious facts are more sensible: elites have common interests, they're often different from the needs of the middle and working class. Is that so hard to understand?

[MyTake]

10:46 PM on 03/31/2009

How can you mentally override FACTS AND EVIDENCE with ELITES HAVE COMMON INTERESTS?

If the ELITES HAVE COMMON INTERESTS, let them come out of their CLOSET and DO THEIR MEETINGS IN PUBLIC AND SERVE THEMSELVES UP TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY!

Americans are the most media brain washed society on earth. Nelson Rockefeller, back in the sixties, had to submit a tax return to a congress committee. One of the richest people in the world paid a grand total of $655 in Federal Income Tax. That would not have even paid for 1 military rifle to PROTECT AND DEFEND that wealth!

Yes, the ELITES HAVE A COMMON UNIVERSAL INTEREST: AVOID PAYING GOVERNMENT TAXES!

But then, I assume you know about the FOUNDATION LAWS that permit them to do just that!

[JohnSawyer]

09:50 AM on 04/01/2009

FatJoe says: "Elites have common interests, they're often different from the needs of the middle and working class."

That, in a nutshell, is what MyTake is saying. His elaboration beyond that central point is meant to illustrate that these elites don't plan things while just sitting in their own living rooms.

[mrfreeze]

08:57 PM on 03/31/2009

"We do not seem to be a priority for the Treasury Department," said Warren.

I love it when those predisposed to vilify President Obama have to make a catastrophe out of a statement such as this. Once again, you trolls engage in the "ready-shoot-aim" thinking you've learned from the Hannities and Limbaughs of the world. You're like children. It amazes me that some of you will sit here on these blogs and defend GWB's false claim about WMD's years after he was proven to be a liar; yet, you'll accuse the new president of being a liar without examining any facts. Actually, as an Obama supporter, I think Ms Warren's investigation should be taken seriously. I don't think; however, that it's time for new elections.

[joebaggadonuts]

08:22 PM on 03/31/2009

Good for her. Keep the pressure on.

[Austintatious]

08:12 PM on 03/31/2009

If you're familiar with Ms. Warren's work, you'll know that she is a very intelligent, talented and capable individual, and very supportive of middle and lower economic class Americans. If she is sounding the alarm regarding the President's handling of the TARP funds or any other aspects of the Administration's economic and financial policies, it is time for us to pay attention.

Her comments lend to the building body of criticism regarding the President's handling of the Wall Street malfeasance. More and more, it appears that the fat cats will continue to get away with financial murder, getting richer as well, while average Americans are getting the shaft.

Watch for more from Ms. Warren. If there is anyone likely to look after us just plain folks, it's Elizabeth Warren. I predict that she will resign rather than be associated with a plan she concludes is incompetent or not in the best interests of the American people.

[FrozenNorthObserver]

01:41 AM on 04/01/2009

that explains why Obama and Geithner are keeping her in lead lined room.