Ah, Yes...TARP

Two in a row HT's to Bayou (see below for #1).  This one's on TARP, the $700Bn that TurboTaxTimmy and GWBush flushed into the sewer system known as "The Banks."

...We gave it to the banks. But no one knew what they did with it. I proposed to Tim Geithner that we find out. He was outraged. He cursed me out, using the F-word. He said it would bring the whole banking system down, if I asked.

"I went ahead and sent out a letter. I didn't really have the authority or the staff to insist. But all of the big banks wrote back. And most of them gave me dodgy responses or gave me the brush-off.

"What did they do with the money? They were supposed to increase lending to help bring about a recovery. None of them did that....

Thus spake Barofsky, the (former) Inspector General of Treasury.

By the way--the actual exposure from TARP is well into the trillions of dollars, not "$700 Billion."