"Mr President, you are now in complete control of the US Treasury."
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THE SMOKING GUN---WSJ REPORT--On Jan 20, 2009 Timothy Geithner was appointed Obama's Secy of the Treasury. But within three weeks, the Obama White House tightened its grip on Treasury. Obama put his COS, Rahm Emanuel, in charge of Treasury---Rahm Emanuel's dual role was an unusual move. When he got to Treasury, WH COS Rahm Emanuel was so involved in the inner workings that the phrase "Rahm wants it" had become an unofficial mantra among subservient govt staffers, prostrate in obeisance, scurrying to accede to Rahm's wishes, according to Treasury government officials. Reported by WSJ / 05/31/09
More here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113406528875137.html
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Federal records say 177 well-connected (read politically-connected) firms participated in TALF.
For investors, there was little risk w/ rewards guaranteed. The Federal Reserve (read taxpayers) funded as much as 90% of the investments.
If bonds were profitable, the borrowers benefited. If not, the department took over the depreciated assets with no repercussions for borrowers.
Then-Sen Joe Biden was a key advocate for the financial bailout, which was expanded under Obama.
Biden even delayed his Senate resignation in Jan 2009 to cast his final vote to increase funding for the Program before taking office as vice president.
Biden said about the banks and hedge funds aided by the government intervention. "Had we not bailed out the largest bank institutions in the world, there would have been a flat-out depression.”
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CIRCA 2009 EXCERPT---FOURTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS Behind The Real Size of the Obama Bailout;
A guide to the abbreviations, acronyms, and obscure programs that make up the $14 trillion federal bailout of Wall Street
SOURCE motherjones.com --- Mon Dec. 21, 2009 12:23 PM PST
The $787 billion TARP--the Troubled Assets Relief Program---is just the best known program in an array of more than 30 overseen by Treasury Department and Federal Reserve that have paid out or put aside untraceable money to bail out financial firms and inject money into the markets. (To get a sense of the size of the real $14 trillion bailout, see MJ chart at web site).
A guide to the pieces of the puzzle includes massive untraceable Treasury Department bailout programs.
Money Market Mutual Fund: In September 2008, the Treasury.......controlled by Obama/Emanuel.......announced that it would insure the holdings of publicly offered money market mutual funds. According to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), these guarantees could have potentially cost the federal government more than $3 trillion [PDF].
Public-Private Investment Fund: This joint Treasury-Federal Reserve program bought toxic assets from banks and brokerages—as much as $5 billion of assets per firm. According to SIGTARP, the government's potential exposure from the PPIF is between $500 million and $1 trillion [PDF].
TARP: As part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel made loans to or investments more than 750 banks and financial institutions. $650 billion has been paid out (not including HAMP; see below). As of December 21, 2009, $117.5 billion of that has been repaid.
Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) stock purchase: The Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel bought $200 million in preferred stock from Fannie Mae and another $200 million from Freddie Mac [PDF] to show that they "will remain viable entities critical to the functioning of the housing and mortgage markets."
GSE mortgage-backed securities purchase: Under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Treasury controlled by Obama/Emanuel may buy mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to SIGTARP, these purchases could cost as much as $314 billion
---SNIP---LONG READ---go to web site to read more and checkout the shocking financial charts.
SOURCE http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/12/behind-real-size-bailout