Word: tarp
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...Treasury Department, in its panic over the collapse of banks on Wall Street, rushed to get TARP out the door - no doubt about it. The government didn't require banks to keep track of the money, report how they were spending it or loan it out to free up credit markets. But it's not all bad news. The fact that the special inspector general's office exists is an important sign that the Treasury Department realized the limits of its abilities. Recent and future TARP outlays have a whole new set of stringent reporting requirements. The inspector general...
...black hole the government created when it did not initially establish reporting and monitoring systems: "TARP agreements generally do not require recipients to report or to track internally the use of TARP funds ... If the American taxpayer is to be expected to fund this extraordinary effort to stabilize the financial system, it is not unreasonable that the public and its representatives in Congress have some understanding as to how those funds have been used by the recipients...
...credit to borrowers and communities: "There was no requirement for recipients to monitor their use of the funds, and it has been widely reported that banks have been "hoarding" the money, acquiring other banks, and paying off debt. Treasury has recently begun to establish periodic reporting guidelines for certain TARP recipients...
...much the government will spend administering TARP (it had already spent nearly $4 million in administrative costs by the end of 2008): "...if Treasury maintains possession of all or most of the purchased assets, the administrative costs of operating the program could amount to more than $1 billion per year." (Contracts to companies outside the government include: $20 million to Bank of America to administer the portfolio of assets the Treasury Department may buy; $395 to the Washington Post to list "vacancy announcements"; $75,850 to Colonial Parking for the lease of parking spots...
...particularly troubling TARP program called Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility that lets companies borrow money using asset-backed securities as collateral: "Treasury should consider requiring that some baseline fraud prevention standards be imposed (such as minimum underwriting standards or some other combination of provisions that will minimize the risk of fraud...