TARP funds go to the politically connected
posted at 3:10 pm on January 22, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
The Wall Street Journal reports on what everyone already knows: the federal bailout serves as nothing more than a political payoff machine. As long as lenders have friends in Washington, they’ll get TARP funds, regardless of how they’ve run their bank or their current health as a lender. Barney Frank leads the pack in the new version of pork:
Troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston didn’t look much like a candidate for aid from the Treasury Department’s bank bailout fund last fall.
The Treasury had said it would give money only to healthy banks, to jump-start lending. But OneUnited had seen most of its capital evaporate. Moreover, it was under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use.
Nonetheless, in December OneUnited got a $12 million injection from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. One apparent factor: the intercession of Rep. Barney Frank, the powerful head of the House Financial Services Committee.
Mr. Frank, by his own account, wrote into the TARP bill a provision specifically aimed at helping this particular home-state bank. And later, he acknowledges, he spoke to regulators urging that OneUnited be considered for a cash injection.
Show of hands for who’s surprised by this. TARP actually works better than pork; it gets more dollars to the politically connected and gets the money there faster. Nor is this limited to Democrats, although Frank’s support of OneUnited despite their failure to qualify might be the most egregious example. Alabama has received $3.7 billion in TARP funds for four of its lenders, and state banking officials credit their two Republican Congressmen for getting them their share.
Who’s watching for abuses? No one. Treasury has so far declined to explain their reasoning on how they spend TARP, and Congress keeps giving them more money anyway. Even regulators don’t know how the system works. Some banks get cash, while others get told to pound sand, even though they have healthier balance sheets than the lucky recipients. The only conclusion anyone can reach is that some states have more political leverage in Washington than others.
The WSJ has a state-by-state breakout the distribution of federal TARP monies here. Be sure to read the entire WSJ report.
Update: That should have been Alabama’s Republican Congressmen, not Senators. My apologies for the error.
Blowback
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Sounds so much like Atlas Shrugged…
Esthier on January 22, 2009 at 3:12 PM
This is, what, day three? of the new era. The era of Obama.
Skandia Recluse on January 22, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Where’s Cuffy Meggs?
creatocon on January 22, 2009 at 3:13 PM
b-b-b-but… there were no EARMARKS!
Skywise on January 22, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Steve Forbes, Jack Welch, Rush Limbaugh, Lee Ioccoca, Hannity…all of the board of a Conservative Bank for Conservatives.
Would have no foreign influences.
When will my unicorn come and make lilacs.
nondhimmie on January 22, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Democrats take pork? Are you sure? NBC never reported this, so I’m not going to believe it yet.
savvydude on January 22, 2009 at 3:14 PM
MSM response: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Keep the public ignorant.
Kudos to the WSJ and HA.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Or “Animal Farm.” Everyone is equal, only some are more equal than others.
genso on January 22, 2009 at 3:15 PM
And they’ve just approved the release of the second $350 billion and are discussing more bailouts along with the stimulus package.
What exactly can be done about this aside from a 2nd American Revolution? I’m actually serious about this. Term limits are an impossibility. These polticians and Wall Street crooks aren’t gonna police themselves. And relying on the voters to get rid of these bums is futile.
Doughboy on January 22, 2009 at 3:16 PM
When will this end? What is it going to take to throw these corrupt embezzlers out of office?
CP on January 22, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Friends of Angelo get special loan deals, & Angelo gets bailout bucks!
jgapinoy on January 22, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Still waiting for any conservative in support of TARP back in October to come forth and admit they were wrong.
lorien1973 on January 22, 2009 at 3:18 PM
And the poor old hard working, productive members of this society just keep getting the life blood sucked out of them. Will they ever say “enough”?
rplat on January 22, 2009 at 3:18 PM
I would raise mine (not), but I’m using both of them to hold onto the few dollars in my wallet.
Welcome to the United Socialist States of America.
rbj on January 22, 2009 at 3:21 PM
Get outta here!!
Seriously??
Who could’ve seen this coming???
thirteen28 on January 22, 2009 at 3:22 PM
I don’t think they will. Today everyone is talking about the excesses of John Thain at MerrillLynch, yet this same elitist thought prevails not only on Wall Street, but in the halls of Congress. Pigs feeding at the trough and No One to stop them.
genso on January 22, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Oh Barney, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My bankers all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Barney, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
elgeneralisimo on January 22, 2009 at 3:23 PM
True, only in Atlas it wasn’t a metaphor. It was nearly exactly like this.
We need a fortress.
Esthier on January 22, 2009 at 3:23 PM
It’s not called an earmark. It’s called making 2 phonecalls. One to treasury to make sure that your “troubled institution” gets an infusion of cash. Then a second phonecall to said “troubled institution” with the direct line to your campaign manager.
Well, some always thought that public funds for campaigns was what we needed. They are publicly funded now.
Game over.
JeffinOrlando on January 22, 2009 at 3:24 PM
McCain’s influence=Zero. Nothing for AZ.
jgapinoy on January 22, 2009 at 3:26 PM
This is the exact reason why our Gubinator needs to open California State Bank and put his liberal wife in charge to recieve the Federal hand-outs. Spending cuts are considered anti-socialist and meanspirited to the downtrodden/illegal immigrant. 55 electoral votes should be worth something.
Rovin on January 22, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Crony Socialism
Cicero43 on January 22, 2009 at 3:26 PM
I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. OneUnited’s claim to fame is that it is a black-owned, black-run, black-oriented bank. It is also generally regarded as one of the worst run banks in the US. In banking circles, it’s jokingly referred to as “One Untied Bank.” Seriously.
Infidoll on January 22, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Of course.
We, the forgotten, are trapped, and they know it. They designed the system to functions just as it is.
They: our elected leaders
The system: keep us so heavily taxed that we hardly have time to life our eyes to see what they are doing to us.
Benefit: Them, keeps them in power. We finance their ability to keep more and more Americans dependent not on them, on US, on our toil and labor.
How they keep it up: They know d*mn well we’re not going to quit our jobs and go on welfare, because we 1) we only have the children we can afford and don’t believe in popping out babies to live for free in squalor, and 2) we won’t live like that because we have integrity.
And so it goes.
JustTruth101 on January 22, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Ever live in Chicago?
Need your street and driveway shoveled? An extra trash pick up? A couple of traffic tickets taken care of?
If you not only voted for your Alderman, but worked on his campaign, or signed up others to work on his campaign, AND contributed money (your own, or bundled) and your neighbors did likewise…well, no snow on your street, and often your driveway, and getting an extra trash pick-up on a non-trash day, or getting those parking tickets and traffic tickets “lost” in the system…no big deal, really.
That’s Chicago.
Chicago…meet Washington, D.C. in the new age of Hope and Change.
And people actually bought into the hype of Hope and Change.
2010 can’t get here soon enough. And those Americans who really care about what direction this country is headed have precious little time to get their act together before what we are seeing with TARP becomes standard practice all across national government. As for 2012…not a whole lot of time before that year is upon us, either.
coldwarrior on January 22, 2009 at 3:29 PM
oh ok, but how many employees at this bank are gay, and how many loans have gone to gay couples/singles? Just sayin……….
sonnyspats1 on January 22, 2009 at 3:30 PM
There was once a dream that was
RomeThe United States of America. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish… it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.WashJeff on January 22, 2009 at 3:30 PM
I think he’s still lurking, waiting until we need his particular talents, which Obama surely will at some point.
Esthier on January 22, 2009 at 3:30 PM
P.S. The only solution:
Join your local board of education, city council, become a state rep, etc. We must educate our fellow citizens and get involved at every level, and not just during election time, all the time. But will we? No. There are not enough of us, too many of us just want to watch tv at the end of a long, hard day.
JustTruth101 on January 22, 2009 at 3:31 PM
My, my, where is Buckaroo?
Such alarmism.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:31 PM
I have always had confidence that this country could survive any political change, believing, ultimately, that the balance of power would cycle back around. Given the current situation with the economy and the euphoric love that most seem to have for Osama, I’m not sure that we haven’t reached the tipping point where things have gone too far to fix. And, we’ve only started. For Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to have survived to this point leaves me no reason to think they will ever be held accountable for what they have wrought.
genso on January 22, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Transparency? Accountability? Wha?
PappaMac on January 22, 2009 at 3:38 PM
It’s just our money that theses banks are getting. Who really cares Obama is the President. I a few days we will all be holding hands singing we are the world. \sarc
Brat4life on January 22, 2009 at 3:38 PM
For Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to have survived to this point leaves me no reason to think they will ever be held accountable for what they have wrought.
genso on January 22, 2009 at 3:35 PM
“Not only did they survive, they are CHAIRMEN and leading the charge!I’m not sure that we haven’t reached the tipping point where things have gone too far to fix.”
That point has indeed been reached.
And they haven’t even defunded the fence *yet*.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Alabama Senators?
What the hell? Senator Shelby was the primary opposition to the TARP bill in the Senate.
Doesn’t anyone stand on principle anymore?
gabriel sutherland on January 22, 2009 at 3:41 PM
This is like 6th grade all over again,..watching the little kids play Old Maid,..all I could do was watch,..I had to play soccer!
christene on January 22, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Search the Congressional Record to read what they are sticking in that bill. You gotta watch what they are saying on the floor:
Brat on January 22, 2009 at 3:42 PM
As for 2012…not a whole lot of time before that year is upon us, either.
coldwarrior on January 22, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Are you that anxious to give him a new 4 year clock?
His re-election is all but inevitable.
The previously red states of CO and VA are bluer than we know. Both have Dem governors and two Dem senators. And both went for Obama.
NM and IA will be fools gold.
The GOP road to 270 is ruined.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:43 PM
elgeneralisimo on January 22, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Thanks a lot, now I can’t get that tune out of my head.
Great job!
belad on January 22, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Doesn’t anyone stand on principle anymore?
gabriel sutherland on January 22, 2009 at
The fat lady has sung.
Little by little, people will start to realize this.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:45 PM
nottakingsides on January 22, 2009 at 3:45 PM
2010 and 2012 don’t matter. The system is now set up to keep incumbents in power forever, using TARP to fund their re-elections. We print money in excessive amounts which goes directly to those entities selected by Congressmen to whom some portion is returned into their campaign fund basket. During that process, those Congressmen(government) gain ownership of our major industries. It won’t end because those benefitting most don’t want it to end. Meanwhile, ACORN is busy.
a capella on January 22, 2009 at 3:45 PM
a capella on January 22, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Zactly.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:47 PM
You’ll know when the tipping point has been reached, when the people with their hands out are in the streets with guns demanding “their share” or else there will be unrest and riots.
belad on January 22, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Too damned true, I think. Hoping for a change in the next election will only having us playing along for the next 2-4 years. I’m not willing to give up so many years of my life and my family’s life on this socialist/elitist experiment.
genso on January 22, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Well, we have officially begun the transition from “A government of, by, and for the people” to “A government of, by, and for the government.”
Goodbye America. It was nice knowing you while it lasted.
dglenn on January 22, 2009 at 3:48 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtFwS2W3ITI
Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) presses the chair of the joint committee on taxation about job creation in the Democrats’ proposed stimulus bill. He could not confirm that this bill could produce…
Just saying.
milwife88 on January 22, 2009 at 3:50 PM
when the people with their hands out are in the streets with guns demanding “their share” or else there will be unrest and riots.
belad on January 22, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Huh?
It’s being delivered politically.
Right now, as I type.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 3:50 PM
whatever happened to government for the people? There is so much crap that I keep hearing about…I am so tired of our congress. And now we have one of it’s own cronies in office.
Just think of all of the favors he’s going to be doing with our tax money.
YEAH, AMERICA IS GREAT!
funsutton on January 22, 2009 at 3:51 PM
“Government ‘help’ to business is just as disastrous as government persecution… the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.”
-Ayn Rand
Vic on January 22, 2009 at 3:57 PM
Rush commented that soon we will see the majority of voters paying no federal tax. They will constitute a permanent voting bloc against those that do. Add amnesty, and it just happens sooner.
Also, we may very soon see the government takeover of the enormous health care portion of our economy. If one happens, you might be slowly bled to death. If both happen, it could be more sudden. In either case, it seems clear where that road will lead.
JiangxiDad on January 22, 2009 at 3:58 PM
“Also, we may very soon see the government takeover of the enormous health care portion of our economy”
It is indeed coming.
And it will NEVER be reversed.
Doesn’t matter who gets elected in the future, it will only grow.
If you think SS is the third rail, just wait.
artist on January 22, 2009 at 4:01 PM
I’m running for city council for just this reason. I love my country, therefore, I’m working on my community.
pugwriter on January 22, 2009 at 4:01 PM
TARP = RICO.
Time for Boy Barney and his co-conspirators in Congress to be perp-walked right out of there. Ditto Hank Paulson, and his tax-evading successor if he continues the criminal activity.
MrScribbler on January 22, 2009 at 4:02 PM
The question has never been if, it has been when. Bush helped the process along.
The problem is: what happens to the 49% when 51% don’t pay taxes?
lorien1973 on January 22, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Pardon my pessimism, but it seems only an en masse citizens arrest will accomplish what you seek. Who among the government has the ability or authority or balls to do that?
genso on January 22, 2009 at 4:05 PM
We’ll be getting somewhere when every thread leads to the same place and the same conclusions. It’s clearly pointless to “call our representatives”, or write letters to the editor. Sooner or later we will have to take some action. In another thread, I proposed national strike days, when productive whites and their allies stay home, as a way of demonstrating our power and effect over the economy. There were a few other ideas. I don’t intend to just stand and be robbed. I’ll join those types of resistance. If no resistance materializes, and people willingly submit as in Europe, I will have to consider leaving.
JiangxiDad on January 22, 2009 at 4:07 PM
I’m having the same thoughts and coming to the same conclusions.
genso on January 22, 2009 at 4:09 PM
I’m still holding to my theory…that money is being injected into a BIG black project, and TARP is the cover. I may be a political skeptic, but I refuse to believe that this apparent nationwide bank robbery is what it appears to be. I find myself in the difficult position of believing there’s a huge asteroid heading to destroy earth, and we’re taking all this money to secretly build an earth defense system. If it isn’t that, our country is tanked.
stonemeister on January 22, 2009 at 4:10 PM
I think Barney is saying, “What the heck, let’s burn this mother down!”
Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Obama, Brown…its paradise.
BTW, I’m having a sale on pitchforks and torches (burning biodiesel shipped in from MN) in case anyone is in the market…
Geministorm on January 22, 2009 at 4:12 PM
stonemeister on January 22, 2009 at 4:10 PM
genso on January 22, 2009 at 4:12 PM
AND NOW WE KNOW WHY GEITHNER is NEEDED!!
He knows how to CHEAT and not get caught during the statute of limitations
originalpechanga on January 22, 2009 at 4:17 PM
I’ll take the bait.
In the initial days of the financial crisis I posted a comment (do I have to look it up?) supporting the idea of the federal government being the ‘market maker of last resort’. Where the feds would buy the apparently worthless paper at some discount from face value of that paper, and attempt, over time, to recover some residual value. A classic bankruptcy work out.
After congress handed a blank check to the Sec. Treasury then it turned into political pay off. Something I also have been warning about since it is the democrat party modus operandi. (Use the power of government to reward your party loyalists, and punish your enemies.
I will not admit to being wrong, however. The Federal Reserve has been the ‘lender of last resort’, allowing banks to present the paper the banks are holding as collateral against which the Fed will loan cash reserves.
Yet it is said that nothing has worked because the banks are not yet loaning money. The claim continues that the ‘credit markets are frozen’. Question: what happens when the bank cuts off your credit cards because you have maxed out your credit? Answer: you get more credit cards, yes?
So [Mr. Mrs. Ms] Lorien I continue to support the original TARP as it was presented. I do not support how it is being implemented. Because what was first suggest, and would probably have worked, has not yet been done, nor has it had enough time to work.
with respect
Skandia Recluse on January 22, 2009 at 4:21 PM
please do not put his picture up….
EXIT QUESTION: Deserted island…..Helen Thomas or Barney Frank????
SDarchitect on January 22, 2009 at 4:22 PM
I was for it too. My thoughts are the same.
JiangxiDad on January 22, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Well, there’s a real shocker.
And Geithner’s in like Flynn. Awesome. Can’t wait for him to oversee TARP 2.0 like he did 1.0!
And not for nothing but it seems Sanford’s presidential campaign continues apace:
Rae on January 22, 2009 at 4:26 PM
I suggest that all you of you use your constitutional right to bear arms. Your probably going to need them in a year or so.
TrickyDick on January 22, 2009 at 4:42 PM
no its not …
it’s time to not stand for it period and throw it off …
AZ_Redneck on January 22, 2009 at 4:45 PM
I’ll take “Smothering Helen Thomas” for $100 Alex.
44Magnum on January 22, 2009 at 4:48 PM
I always find myself waving back when I see that picture. He’s just so darn cute!
(Did I just say that out loud?)
Mr_Magoo on January 22, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Stephen Moore thinks so. I love the article’s ending:
A laughed when I read it, but he’s right.
batter on January 22, 2009 at 4:58 PM
So it’s important to save a bank because of the color of, who, all their employees? Owners, what?
The bank was probably set up to take advantage of the CRA money in the first place. Now they get another shoveful of dough!
Don’t be too eager for 2012. By that time, our nation will be in a Depression, and all the pigs at the trough will vote in BO again.
PattyJ on January 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Please no, I just finished eating.
Johan Klaus on January 22, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Dat Bawney Fwanks is such a wascawy wascaw. Is he stiw wunning a gay bowdewo fwom his apawtment wif his bowfwiend?
OHHHHHHH Consewvatives weewy mad me angwy!
nelsonknows on January 22, 2009 at 5:25 PM
And go where? The United States has been the last stop on the liberty express for a while now. Galt’s Gulch is fiction. You either fight for America, or you submit to a state. There’s nowhere to retreat.
Blacklake on January 22, 2009 at 5:28 PM
Fanny gets RAPED by FRanks, todd and the democrats
Freddie gets RAPED by FRanks, todd and the democrats
Taxpaers get RAPED by FRanks, todd and the democrats
And then we find out that ALL of that money went to their friends..
Prabably to pay for all the male escort services they hired..
there has been a whole LOT of screwing going on at congress..
Congress, FRANKS, TODD, Murtha and the rest of the Democrats has RAPED Fanny, FREDDIE and THE ENTIRE US Treasury system so HARD
that fanny, freddie and the banks
ALL GOT AIDS..
Thanks to FRANKS..
jcila on January 22, 2009 at 6:21 PM
there hasent been a fanny that didnt get a push from FRANKS..
there hasnt been a fanny that franks didnt RAPE..
There hasnt been a fanny that wasnt eyed by the liberals
and we and our children will all end up paying the bills for this fiasco..
jcila on January 22, 2009 at 6:23 PM
We are becoming a socialist kleptocracy.
MB4 on January 22, 2009 at 8:01 PM
Day 3 of The Afterbirth
tmq on January 22, 2009 at 9:54 PM
Why isn’t this guy in jail? Is anyone else beginning to realize yet that this isn’t going to stop without an actual revolution?
Midas on January 22, 2009 at 10:23 PM