Later today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will unveil a new plan to overhaul the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The price tag reportedly may top $1.5 trillion.
During President Barack Obama’s first press conference, New York Times reporter Helene Cooper asked about the deeply troubling program:
Thank you, sir. I wanted to ask you on the next bank bailout. Are you going to impose a requirement that the financial institutions use this money to loosen up credit and make new lending? And if not, how do you make the case to the American people that this bailout will work, when the last one didn’t?
THE PRESIDENT: Again, Helene -- and I’m trying to avoid preempting my Secretary of the Treasury, I want all of you to show up at his press conference as well; he’s going to be terrific. But -- this relates to Jake’s earlier question -- one of my bottom lines is whether or not credit is flowing to the people who need it. Is it flowing to banks -- excuse me, is it flowing to businesses, large and small? Is it flowing to consumers? Are they able to operate in ways that translate into jobs and economic growth on Main Street? And the package that we’ve put together is designed to help do that.
In the first go-round, Wall Street got $350 billion, hoarded the money and outsourced jobs. Bank of New York Mellon, which received $3 billion in bailout funds, is also the lead contractor. It was awarded a $20 million contract to track TARP assets.
During a recent Senate Small Business Committee hearing on the role of small businesses in job creation, Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, testified the New York Mellon outsourced accounting subcontracts to India.
Tracking Change Wikiwill keep track of implementation of TARP II. We will run tell everyone if its rollout translates into jobs and economic growth in a foreign country.
