United Liberty

Since I’m at the Defending the American Dream Summit where several of today’s speakers openly supported TARP last year, I found it sort of ironic that today is the one year anniverary of the program:

Supporters say the program pulled the financial system back from the brink of disaster. The stock market has rebounded, banks are making profits again. Disaster, they say, has been averted.

Detractors counter by arguing that the program only rewarded Wall Street, the same people blamed for causing the mess in the first place. It has not, they say, helped Main Street, as unemployment has risen to a 26-year high and foreclosures have continued to climb.

Meanwhile, the bailout morphed into a much bigger program, with money for insurance companies and automakers.

According to watchdog Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the program, it is “highly unlikely” that taxpayers will ever get paid back their full investment.

TARP program was passed out of a since of fear, much like the USA PATRIOT Act. Members of Congress lined up to cast away your tax dollars as they cast aside the Fourth Amendment in 2001. I understand the fear of the unknown, but too often our representative react without clearly thinking through the impact of their votes.

Much like the “stimulus” bill, which has not brought down unemployment, TARP is a failure.