Hot Docs: Did Treasury Overpay for Bailout? Also, Americans Confused Over Evolution

Financial Bailout: Did Treasury Overpay? In its zeal to buy up portions of troubled banks and other financial institutions, the Treasury Department overpaid to the tune of $78 billion, a congressional report concludes. The report from the Congressional Oversight Panel, called "Valuing Treasury's Acquisitions," examines whether the Troubled Asset Relief Program "resulted in a fair deal for taxpayers." The report concludes that "Treasury paid substantially more for the assets it purchased under the TARP than their then-current market value." The report says the fault may lie with treasury's standardization of the process to speed things along. As a result, "Treasury could not address differences in credit quality." The bottom line: "Treasury paid $254 billion, for which it received assets worth approximately $176 billion, a shortfall of $78 billion."

Americans Divided, Confused Over Evolution: Americans remain divided and confused over the issue of evolution, a study on the eve of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday has found. A review of data by the Pew Research Center finds that for the past 20 years Americans have remained divided about the origins of life on Earth. The review concludes that about 40 to 50 percent of the public accepts a biblical creationist account of the formation of life. However, the study said that an August 2005 Gallup poll found that 58 percent of "the public said that creationism was definitely or probably true as an explanation for the origin and development of life, but about the same number also said the same about evolution. Since creationism and evolution are incompatible as explanations, some portion of the public is clearly confused about the meaning of the terms."

Terrorism, National Security, and Civil Liberties: The Obama administration must find a way to balance the needs of national security with those of civil liberties if it hopes to be successful in fighting terrorism, a Council on Foreign Relations study argues. The report by the independent, nonpartisan group praises Obama's pledge to close Guantánamo and his vow to fight terrorism "in a manner that is consistent with out values and our ideals." However, the report, "War About Terror: Civil Liberties and National Security After 9/11," argues that "counterterrorism policies are sustainable over the long term only if policymakers design them with the coequal objectives of improving national security and protecting civil liberties." Among other things, the report finds that U.S. counterterrorism efforts have been hampered by its use of Guantánamo, "black site" prisons, and harsh interrogation techniques. The paper said these things have harmed the United States' image and aided the recruitment of terrorists.

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