Capital Commerce

How Many Trillions for TARP?

By James Pethokoukis

Posted: April 7, 2009

The always insightful Peter Davis over at Capital Gains and Games puts TARP in perspective:

However, the bigger picture is that there are approximately $3.6 trillion of troubled assets on bank balance sheets, a lot more than can be cleaned up with $700 b. of TARP.   ... So will Congress put more taxpayer money into TARP when the need arises?  For the next few months, the answer is clearly a resounding NO!  Over the past month, in hearing after hearing, members of both parties in both houses of Congress have railed against the bad deal the taxpayers are getting under TARP.

Me: And that, of course, is a big reason why Hank Paulson abandoned his plan to buy toxic assets. He needed a bigger boat and knew Congress would not give him one.

Can you say "Resolution Authority"

Excuse me, but now we have a revision (ugly) in the Mark to Market process. This will provide temporary relief so that the financial oligarchs can find something to do about raiding their systemically risky organizations and not have to do the PPIP fire sale. And the number is somewhere between $3 and @4 TRILLION DOLLARS of toxicity (maybe more as foreclosures continue to mount. Recently published is the proposed (by Geithner and Bernanke) Resolution Authority Statute. It is to non-bank companies what the FDIC has for taking over failing banks. This will have to happen to cure the problem, so that we can stop funding the payoff of the "counter parties" who participated in the CDS and CDO insanity and are the primary recipients of TARP funds thru AIG and others. The MtM rules change is another "back room" scam to protect the oligarchs while their lobbyists can work to get support to defeat the resolution authority or delay it. You notice that the PPIP deadline was recently extended. Why? Because the banks, with now protected balance sheets structure by internal auditors to distort the toxic acidity, don't have to unload their assets at fire sale prices (what they are actually worth), even though their potential buyers are being leveraged 93% by the Government. This reveals the truth without question!!! Unless Geither and Bair step in to force them to sell these at their real value (not market by replacement cost), the PPIP will turn out to be a farce. The change in MtM is the ultimate Red Herring, and any congressional support is generated by the high paid lobbyists for the financial oligarchs. Check out the Baseline Scenario on this topic, or read Simon Johnson's article in the Atlantic (May edition now online).

If we allow the smoke and mirrors routine being pursued to these cheaters, the entire world's economy will implode (by August, if not sooner).

Bumpmeister of GA @ Apr 07, 2009 20:35:14 PM

There is only one way

to "clean up" $3.6 billion (if that's the number) of "troubled assets" on bank balance sheets, and that is to stimulate the "market" for trading in these things, so we can see how "troubled" they are.

Muser of NM @ Apr 07, 2009 14:14:58 PM

that's it?

You call this a blog entry? Looks like a quote to me.

Dan of GA @ Apr 07, 2009 13:36:14 PM

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Capital Commerce

Capital Commerce

U.S. News business reporter Matthew Bandyk examines the issues, people, and debates that shape the nexus of political and economic life in the nation's capital.

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