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TARP watchdog says Treasury overpaid by $78 bln
02.05.09, 11:27 AM EST
Forbes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department overpaid by about $78 billion during its first set of transactions under the government's $700 billion financial bailout, the head of a watchdog panel told lawmakers Thursday.
Elizabeth Warren, who is chairing the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said data indicated that the Treasury put about $254 billion into financial institutions, but only received $176 billion in value back.
"That's a shortfall of about $78 billion when measured at the date of the transaction," Warren said. "We want to emphasize there may be good policy reasons for overpaying."
Warren also said former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "was not entirely candid" in his description of the $250 billion capital injections program for banks. (Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh and Karey Wutkowski)
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*There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money.
Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost.
Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch!
Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government. And that’s close to 40% of our national income.
Winner Nobel Prize in Economics
