As I suggested last week, it is past time for someone to put forward a new bill designed to ensure public accountability for the use of government bailout funds after the funds have left the Treasury. Somehow, this very important clause was left out of the Troubled Asset Relief Plan (TARP.) The omission can either be attributed to duplicity or boneheadedness by Congress. Take your pick.
The new bill should be called Troubled Assets Relief Recipients’ Transparency (TARRT) Bill.
Ed Morrissey provides yet more evidence that this is an urgent need on Capitol Hill…now.
When the Bush administration first proposed the TARP bailout plan, it gave Henry Paulson absolute authority to spend the money without any oversight. Congress eventually balked and forced the White House to accept transparency and accountability, but they didn’t adjust when Paulson suddenly dropped the idea of buying toxic assets and started sending cash to banks instead. The bankers who got bailout money now won’t say where the money went…
Don’t be surprised when the automakers act the same way. How dare we know how our money gets spent, and whether we’re ever going to see it again? The only difference between bankers and automakers is that the latter wants a second serving at the taxpayer trough. Congress will make them talk about how they spent the first $17 billion before finally rolling over and giving them a bigger bailout in March. After that? It won’t be anyone’s business, especially with Chrysler, which is privately held and has no stockholders and disclosure requirements.
This isn’t really the fault of the bankers, nor the automakers when they inevitably offer the same response. It’s the fault of the bailout industry that has suddenly arisen in Washington DC. Had the government stuck to the original plan and simply bought up the mortgage-backed securities that poisoned the marketplace, taxpayer liability would have been limited and bankers would have no reason to discuss their internal workings. Instead, we have become the guarantor of all failing businesses large enough to have a political impact, replacing capitalism with a strange politiconomy without any accountability anywhere.
Buck up, buddy. We're on the job!
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