TARP chief: Banks possibly 'in more danger now' (Big Government® at work)

CNN - Political Ticker ^ | 2009-10-21

[rabscuttle385]

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The banking system today may be in a more precarious position than it was a year ago, the man charged with overseeing a $700 billion bailout program said Wednesday.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general managing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the government's decision to support bank mergers over the past year may have put the U.S. economy more at risk.

"These banks that were too big to fail are now bigger," Barofsky said. "Government has sponsored and supported several mergers that made them larger and that guarantee, that implicit guarantee of moral hazard, the idea that the government is not going to let these banks fail, which was implicit a year ago, is now explicit, we've said it. So if anything, not only have there not been any meaningful regulatory reform to make it less likely, in a lot of ways, the government has made such problems more likely.

"Potentially we could be in more danger now than we were a year ago," he added.

[rabscuttle385]

*Ping!*

[cranked]

lulz! =.=

[Past Your Eyes]

Bump

[goldstategop]

Get set for another round of bailouts! And this time the NRO crowd doesn't have a principled argument against it because it supported a government takeover of the financial markets a year ago.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[bt579]

Hope & Change

[MNJohnnie]

"These banks that were too big to fail are now bigger,

Because people like this clown told the banks "go buy up the troubled banks for us".

My god these people are utterly shameless liars.

[RayChuang88]

Look, the next step for economic recovery is getting back that estimated US$15 TRILLION in American-owned liquid assets either participating in the underground economy or sitting in offshore financial centers beyond the US border, all for income tax avoidance reasons.

Fix our income tax laws so it encourages personal savings and capital investment staying in the USA and most of that US$15 trillion returns to the USA, providing a gigantic liquidity boost to many distressed companies, something very necessary for real economic recovery.

[4Liberty]

IF BARNEY FRANK & CHRIS DODD HAD THEIR SALARIES 'CAPPED' (PUNISHED), ALONG WITH THE BANK CEOS/CORPORATE-WELFARE RECIPIENTS, I REALLY WOULDN'T MIND THE PAY-CAP CZAR IDEA. LET'S INCLUDE ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE - NOT JUST BANKSTERS.

[TurtleUp]

Anyone who has studied and understood economics knew this would happen a year ago when liberal (and RINO) crooks first proposed stealing money from our children and giving it to those financial institutions led by big campaign donors. I’ve been cursing TARP since it was proposed ... and boycotting the corrupt banks to the point of closing my accounts with these thieves and rejecting checks drawn on those banks ... and praying those banks would all die a richly deserved death.

[4Liberty]

[4Liberty]

[pnh102]

Real shocker there. You have banks that are already teetering on the brink of failure given a welfare lifeline. All we did was postpone the inevitable.

[DesScorp]

Oh, NOW they admit it. Nice.

[GOPJ]

Is he talking about banks like Wachovia - banks that got bought out? Or is he talking about banks like Bank of American that’s up to their eyeballs in derivatives?

[javachip]

See tagline.

[April Lexington]

Bummer.

[plenipotentiary]

The Western Capitalist Banking System is under attack from outside forces. Guess who? Whose plan has always been to induce the fall of Capitalism by utilising its “inherent contradictions”.

Yes our old friends the Commies.

[madison10]

Sure works in well with that H1N1 “crisis.”

[Nachum]

The list, ping