A very frustrated Mr. Twist wrote to our Senator asking him to vote against the bailout. He received a rather condescending reply, explaining to him how much more knowledgeable the Senator was on these issues than his constituents. Now that the TARP program and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson have come under fire, Mr. Twist decided to write again. With his permission, I am sharing the letter with our readers.
Dear Senator Cornyn–
Before the TARP vote, i wrote to you urging you not to support this bailout program. It has been reported that prior to the vote, the volume of your emails and calls in opposition to the TARP was many times more than those in support of it. In spite of this, you decided to ignore your constituents wishes, and you voted in favor of the TARP plan
On October 22, 2008, you sent me an email explaining the reasons for your vote. In that email you wrote, "…any taxpayer money that is used to support our troubled economy must be subject to strict oversight…" We are now hearing that, in fact, there has been almost no oversight of this program.
On Friday, the San Antonio Express News wrote:
"So far, Paulson has spent $290 billion of the bailout package. How have those TARP funds been used? No one really knows other than him."
"You see, Congress was supposed to create a five-member congressional oversight panel — but hasn’t. And the White House was supposed to nominate — and the Senate was supposed to confirm — a special inspector general to audit and investigate where the funds are going. After six weeks, President Bush hasn’t made a nomination."
"If lots of money in Washington and little oversight sounds alarming, it should. It’s the same toxic combination that helped create the current financial crisis. Now the Troubled Asset Relief Program is becoming a huge cookie jar into which politicians are reaching for special interest giveaways."
I would appreciate an explanation of why your assurance of "strict oversight" over the TARP program (that you voted for) has not happened.
Sincerely,
Mr. Twist
Caroline Baum of Bloomberg expressed similar concerns:
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) — Every time Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson updates us on the government’s efforts to stabilize the financial system and announces the latest twist in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I know he will introduce a host of new acronyms for new lending facilities to rescue new asset classes from new and anticipated distress.
And I know that, no matter how hard I focus on what he says or how many times I read the press release and accompanying stories, I won’t be able to get my arms around the details.
And then it hits me. There are no details. Only a set of loosely linked concepts — something between a trial balloon and a hot-air dirigible — that flows out in a stream-of- consciousness format, with the details to be filled in later.
There were no details when Paulson delivered a three-page draft of a bailout proposal to Congress in September, authorizing him to spend $700 billion buying “troubled assets” from banks, with no questions asked and no provision for oversight.
There were no details when Paulson announced in October that he was shifting gears and using the congressionally authorized funds to recapitalize the banks, a provision of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and an option Paulson had dismissed weeks earlier in favor of buying troubled assets through some kind of reverse auction.
So who is in charge of the details and oversight? I imagine "top men":
UK House Bubble
Mish's Global Economic Analysis
Bubble Meter
Northern Virginia Housing Bubble Fallout
Ohio Fraudclosure
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Beautiful follow-up letter!
What we need is some ‘top men’ to nail Paulson in a crate and store him in a warehouse next to the Arc.
and don’t be suprised when we find out in two years that a billion went to a university’s science department to fund a quest for the holy grail!!!! and another billion went to a local plumber who applied as a financial institution because he works on houses that are owned by banks and, therefor, makes him a financial istitution. i’m guessin that while they guard the money from the big 3 autos out front…..plenty of people will be gettin the dough out of the back door!!!!
twist -
Remember, the banks are a moat holding company
Igor (who says — “Ripoff!”) has already finished the paperwork and Doom Castle is dead certain to be TARP’d by the end of Q4.
Twist and Mr. Twist
First of all, I applaud Mr. Twist. NVMike pretty well sums it up (beautiful follow-up letter). Next I am going to say how scary this is, however this does not surprise me (angers me though). With that said, we are going to see home prices fall extremly low and with lighting speed in the next four months.
Very odd indeed. We need to hold all these politicans accountable. Funny clip. Scary, scary times. Yes Igor, it’s bizarre