When the TARP bill was first being discussed I made a statement that I would like to repeat about the TARP money:
[T]his should not be used as a windfall by Congress to fund some pet projects.
We have come to the point now where Congress is faced with the question of whether to extend the program past the initial time of authorization. From the earliest versions of the bill (not including the 3 page version written by Sec. Paulson) to the final version the program was authorized only until 2009 with the option for Congress to extend it as far as two years from the day it was enacted (October 10, 2010 being that two year mark). Faced with the reality of this first deadline there are people who are absolutely opposed to those members of Congress who have indicated a desire to not extend the program.
I stand by my response to what I called “my favorite section” of that first version of the bill:
Of course I won’t hold my breath that it will die in two years or less.
Indeed, Sec. Geithner testified before Congress yesterday that:
he would not support a permanent extension of the program, but . . .
(emphasis added)
From the very beginning of the debate there were people who recognized the potential for this to become a slush fund. “Rupert” said it perfectly in September of 2008 with his statement:
I would think that most of us old enough to buy beer would recognize those conditions as the perfect set up for another taxpayer fleecing.
Undoubtedly, the government will be quick to defend that the money has not been used as a slush fund to pay for things other than buying toxic bank assets (although there are some who have admitted the truth). The record clearly indicates that they have to lie to say any such thing. Within 10 weeks of being passed:
On December 19, 2008, President Bush used his executive authority to declare that TARP funds may be spent on any program he personally deems necessary to avert the financial crisis, and declared Section 102 to be nonbinding.
That opened the door for the government to bail out General Motors and Chrysler (neither of which is anything like a bank). Not only that, but PNC Financial Services Group was so financially troubled when they received TARP funds that they bought a rival bank within hours of receiving the funds (for just a little bit less than they received in bailout money. Now Democrats want to use the funds to give money to homeowners and the unemployed. None of that was part of the original program.
TARP has already been used as a slush fund and it should be shut down on December 31st and all unused money returned to where it came from (most of it was created out of thin air). I highly doubt that will happen despite the efforts of our highly connected and well tenured junior senator from Utah. I expect one of two things to happen – either the program will terminate by October 10th 2010 and the money will be thrown into the general fund (why give back what the government has already stolen?) to fund other projects in our bloated government or else the program will live on beyond the final expiration date specified when it was passed and the money will continue to be used as a very generous slush fund.
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