TARP Watchdog: Don't Bank on Seeing Bailout Money Again

In advance of the first anniversary of the TARP bailout, Inspector General Neil Barofsky faced a Senate panel this morning, telling lawmakers that TARP has yet to meet many of its major goals and that it is "unclear" if the government will ever "maximize overall returns to the taxpayer." Barofsky notes that the program has failed in its efforts to lend to banks and to enable employees to keep their homes and jobs. In a grim assessment of our current economic state, Barofsky observed that "the risk of foreclosure continues to affect too many Americans; unemployment continues its rise to levels that Treasury has characterized as 'unacceptable;' the so-called 'toxic' assets that helped cause this crisis for the most part remain right where they were last fall. …" Additionally, the Treasury Department has failed to live up to the financial transparency it promised taxpayers. The bailout cost about $700 billion, $150 billion of which is currently uncommitted.

Read original story in ABC News | Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009