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From: Olin Ross on 30 Jul 2010 00:42
Someone should should look under the TARP
Congress won't. Obama sure won't.
Democrat Chris Dodd doesn't want anyone to.

Examiner Editorial
July 22, 2010
Neil Barofsky, special inspector general of TARP, criticized the
Treasury Department for its lack of transparency and accountability in
the federal bank bailout. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

This is not the first time that Neil Barofsky, special inspector general
of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has harshly criticized the
Treasury Department for its utter lack of transparency and
accountability in administering the massive federal bank bailout. But in
his latest quarterly report to Congress, the independent watchdog warns
that total taxpayer support for the financial system increased by
another $700 billion during the past year -- with precious little to
show for it. Some of that increase went to supply capital to Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac so these quasi-governmental entities could continue
guaranteeing mortgages and supposedly stabilize the housing market that
they were so instrumental in causing to collapse.

But documents provided under subpoena to Congress show that toxic loan
peddler Countrywide Financial provided multiple below-market mortgages
to already excessively overpaid Fannie Mae officials, including Jim
Johnson, Jamie Gorelick, Dan Mudd and Franklin Raines. "They made
billions buying and selling each other's toxic loans," CBS investigative
correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported. Also among Countrywide's
beneficiaries was Senate banking committee Chairman Chris Dodd, whose
name informally graces the just-passed financial "reform" bill. He saved
an estimated $75,000, thanks to a bargain-basement interest rate he got
in 2003 from Countrywide.

Another $75 billion has been spent on the Home Affordable Modification
Program, which was designed to reduce mortgage payments for an estimated
four million people in danger of losing their homes.But Barofsky called
HAMP's performance to date "anemic," pointing out that it "failed to put
an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings." In fact, only 51,000
desperate homeowners entered the program in June, a one-year low, and
less than the number that exited HAMP. "The American people are
essentially being asked to shoulder an additional $50 billion of
national debt without being told, more than 16 months after the
program's announcement, how many people Treasury hopes to actually help
stay in their homes ... [adding to] the growing public suspicion that
the program is an outright failure," Barofsky said, noting that Treasury
"has already jumped into the deep end of the moral hazard pool."

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ranking Republican on the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee, charges that the Obama administration
is treating TARP "like its own personal slush fund." This is the
inevitable result when unaccountable bureaucrats are given secret access
to public funds while Congress abrogates its oversight responsibilities.
At this point, nothing short of a full-blown public investigation is
likely to get at the full truth about this scandal. Unfortunately,
that's probably the last thing the current Congress will ever do.

Read more at the Washington Examiner:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Congress-should-look-under-the-TARP-1002412-98949339.html#ixzz0uv1FxsV1

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