US Could Lose $2B In TARP, Warns Oversight Panel

The Hill:

The government could lose out on more than $2 billion if federal officials continue to undervalue part of the financial bailout package, a government watchdog panel will say on Friday.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, working with a team of Harvard Business School professors, estimated that taxpayers had lost one-third of the value of the very small number of warrants that had already been sold by the Treasury Department.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[RJII]

that's less than bush lost each week in Iraq failure.

[PATina]

Gotta love it !!! You know... when AIG gave out it's first round of bonuses earlier this year stating they had to retain their best and brightest... I, like many others, thought if your best and brightest ruined your country... you need to let them go. But II have to admit... these people really are financial geniuses. They came up w/ a scheme to bilk as much money out of the system as possible until it almost crashes (or so they said)... then get us to invest in them with our hard earned money so the system doesn't collapse... at a loss. And now... they are starting all over again !!

Sorry... but this was a brilliant plan... beautifully executed. At least we've been had by the best and brightest... hahahahahahaha (i'd really be mad if we had gotten conned by a community college graduate... hahahahahahaha).

[sueinmn]

Imagine an economy had they taken over our mortgages and directly helped us! Bad mortgages would have been good again, money would flow into the economy through spending. they did this all ass backwards and the banks are making profits while we are still screwed!

[PATina]

If only they had listened to those of us who were saying that then.

[SamKnause]

Imagine what we the people could have done with that 2 billion!!! Imagine what we could have done with the 700 billion tarp if it had been didvided up between we the people!!!!

[PATina]

You know. But we just had to try one more time w/ the trickle down... instead of the flood up. Credit cards would be paid off... mortgages... college loans... care loans... all gone !!! And the banks would have had plenty of money to stabilize and start lending again (not to mention that the people would have had better credit scores to get loans).

[slowhand0728]

Lose only 2 Billion? I think that is overly Optimistic.

[Grunty1]

Agreed, especially since there are no records as to where the first $350 billion (Dubya's half) ended up.

[not going2take it]

I am so tired of all ot the double-talk and rampant, pungent bullsh!t!
I don;t believe in anything the financial system says, it is
smoke and mirrors, simply posturing.

Our whole financial and banking system is corrupt beyond measure,
it is the only way it EVER got to be what it is today
is based on trickery and deceit.

[SangZe]

Obama at his best.

[crablover]

Excuse me, but TARP was a Bush administration scheme. What else could we expect from an administration that "lost" $8B in cash in Iraq?

[slowhand0728]

That doesnt really wash, since Obama during the election was a firm supporter of it. Remember the race back to Washington? Campaign stopping to make sure TARP got passed. So both GUILTY of this MESS, never was and intended to be a solution.
At least not one that the average American can benefit from.

[alienufo]

2b out of 700b isnt that much. We magically lost 8b in the Iraq war.

[1differentdrummer]

George W. Bush, thank God and Greyhound he's gone.

[Name Not In Use]

TARP should be renamed:

BARF

Bogus Asset Repurchase Fiasco.

[PATina]

Sounds good to me.

[PhilipTaylor]

Its price has dropped from $600 last July to under $10 today!

Are you kidding? $2 Billion loss?

A1G could go to ZERO and there goes $80+ Billion!

The Banks own $Hundreds of Trillion in Toxic Debts hidden "Off-The-Books" ENR0N-Style and there goes another $300 Billion!

JPM has $88 Trillion and G0LDMAN has $30 Trillion according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

This is PURE BS to make us feel better! Keep us from visiting Washington and Wall Street!

[PhilipTaylor]

*** A1G's price has dropped from $600 last July to under $10 today! ***

[teron678]

Back in the day .. losing 2 thousand was a big deal .... d@mn .. how time has changed .. we're at a time where losing 2 Billion isn't much of a being deal ... soon it will be 2 trillion ...

[teron678]

Back in the day .. losing 2 thousand was a big deal .... damn .. how time has changed .. we're at a time where losing 2 Billion isn't much of a being deal ... soon it will be 2 trillion ...

[LunaPark]

What's import is that the banks not loose any money and the bank executives get paid their bonuses so they don't leave.

[LunaPark]

Sorry, lose, not loose. And yes, reward failure. The more you suck as a business executive, the more the government should bail you out and the bigger your bonus should be.

[Melissa]

This government does not have a clue how to get us out of this mess. It would be exceptional if all the idiots in Congress would read and understand what they are signing.

[hellboundtrain]

Yes, money that was once yours, and ours, is now being paid to the bankster geniuses!

Got to save the best and the brightest!

[rich misty]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown/view/

When Paulson and Bush put together TARP it was designed to steal from the taxpayers and gift the money to their uber-wealthy friends.

The more distance America can put between Conservatism and themselves, the better off the entire country will be.

[GoldenAgeMaster]

Wrong!

Bush got sold a bill of goods by Paulson. The only thing Bush is guilty of is being a can short of a six-pack. I do hope that Paulson and his buddies all go to jail. What I don't get is why Obama extended the program by so much. We would have been better off dealing with the problem we had instead of adding to the problem. And that my dear is where Conservatism ideals could have prevailed.

[Gewyne]

The Bush family has managed to aquire a nice asset rich part of Lehmans for peanuts - so they are doing ok out of all this.