TARP

Treasury Department Revises TARP losses to $42B, down from $270B

The U.S. Treasury has revised it's losses on TARP according to the New York Times:

The Treasury Department expects to recover all but $42 billion of the $370 billion it has lent to ailing companies since the financial crisis began last year, with the portion lent to banks actually showing a slight profit, according to a new Treasury report.

The new assessment of the $700 billion bailout program, provided by two Treasury officials on Sunday ahead of a report to Congress on Monday, is vastly improved from the Obama administration’s estimates last summer of $341 billion in potential losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. That figure anticipated more financial troubles requiring intervention.

And Then There Were One....Citigroup last TARP

Today BoA paid back TARP funds so they could pay a new CEO absurd amounts of executive compensation. That leaves Citigroup as the only TARP recipient who has not paid back the money from the $700 Billion.

The New York Times on Citigroup:

it may be difficult for the bank to reimburse the government anytime soon, given continuing problems with troubled assets and loan losses. It also must navigate some tricky tax issues that would accompany any repayment.

Citigroup has been pummeled in all parts of its financial empire, from credit cards and complex mortgage bonds in the United States to exposure to soured bonds in Dubai.

Obama "May" Extend TARP

This should be no surprise. TARP expires at the end of the year, so of course the Obama administration is considering extending it.

The Obama administration is leaning towards extending the troubled asset relief programme into next year, retaining part of the $700bn war chest in case of another financial emergency.

Although no final decision has been made, officials in the Treasury are wary of letting the fund expire as scheduled at the end of the year and are seeking to allay criticisms and fears about the future use of Tarp, which has been tapped to provide capital injections in a variety of companies from Citigroup to General Motors.

TARP funds to be used to pay down the deficit

The Obama administration has announced they plan to to Cut Deficit With TARP Cash:

The Obama administration, under pressure to show it is serious about tackling the budget deficit, is seizing on an unusual target to showcase fiscal responsibility: the $700 billion financial rescue.

The administration wants to keep some of the unspent funds available for emergencies, but is considering setting aside a chunk for debt reduction.

Ok, Wall Street Journal. Firstly, how much will they use to pay down the deficit?

Secondly the losses projected vary widely. Now the WSJ reports the total losses will be about $200 Billion, down from $341 Billion, but this is just the original $700 Billion in TARP funds.

Currently we have:

SIGTARP preview - Hank Paulson chastized for spin on "healthy" banks receiving TARP funds

This is an Instapopulist to cover the press articles on the new SIGTARP, the inspector general's report on TARP, due out this morning. We will update the site when we can get our little grubby peanut gallery hands on the actual report.

In Government report questions rescue claims we discover, surprise, surprise, Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke and the FDIC all lied on the health of the 9 banks receiving funds.

But the report said that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other officials were wrong to contend at an Oct. 14 press conference that all nine institutions receiving the first round of support — $125 billion — were sound.

Gear Up that Outrage Over Executive Pay - New Report on Bailed Out Bankers

While people go begging for work, losing their homes, getting laid off, our bailed out bank executives made millions. The Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies has a new report, America’s Bailout Barons.

Their key findings:

The Bounty for Bailout Barons: From 2006 through 2008, the top five executives at the 20 banks that have accepted the most federal bailout dollars since the meltdown averaged $32 million each in personal compensation. One hundred average U.S. workers would have to labor over 1,000 years to make as much as these 100 executives made in three.

TARP Banks own 66% of all credit cards, 50% of all mortgages

Do you ever have one of those moments of pause and say to yourself, what have they done!

This was my reaction to a Washington Post article, Banks 'Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger.

The worst actors of the financial crisis, those who should have gone down in the flames they set themselves, who were rescued by our government, are now beyond belief mega financial oligarchs, limiting consumer choice and making a mockery of the phrase moral hazard:

WaPo Author Cho:

Citigroup Gets Audit by SIGTARP

Citigroup to get audited:

Citigroup Inc.’s $301 billion of federal asset guarantees, extended by the U.S. last year to help save the bank from collapse, will be audited to calculate losses and determine whether taxpayers got a fair deal.

Neil Barofsky, inspector general of the U.S. Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, agreed in an Aug. 3 letter to audit the program after a request by U.S. Representative Alan Grayson. Barofsky will examine why the guarantees were given, how they were structured and whether the bank’s risk controls are adequate to prevent government losses.

As an investment, TARP is down $148 Billion

While the actual inspector general of TARP is having a rough time getting information from the U.S. Treasury, a private think tank, Ethisphere Institute, is tracking on the TARP.

According to the Ethisphere TARP Index, when markets closed on Friday, June 19, 2009, the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) investment was down approximately $148.2 billion

Ethisphere is treating the TARP as an investment and tracking on the losses. Not a bad idea since the American public was sold the idea they would get the money back.

Pages