Treasury official Neel Kashkari testified amid growing impatience among members of Congress who want evidence that tax dollars and the Treasury's strategies are loosening credit markets. (Jay Mallin/ Bloomberg News)
"Official: No micromanaging banks" by Associated Press | March 12, 2009
WASHINGTON - The government should refrain from micromanaging banks that receive taxpayer assistance, a top Treasury official cautioned lawmakers itching to see results from a $700 billion rescue program for the financial sector.
Neel Kashkari, interim assistant secretary for financial stability at Treasury, yesterday said banks should not be forced to make loans that bankers might deem risky. "However well-intended, government officials are not positioned to make better commercial decisions than lenders in our communities," he told a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Within weeks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to unveil a new public-private investment fund that will be used to purchase illiquid assets, such as toxic mortgage-related securities at the heart of the financial crisis. Kashkari said the private sector has voiced interest in the program; he expects pension funds and mutual funds that hold retirement savings to be among the major investors.
First of all, WHAT IS TAKING SO DAMN LONG?
Banks want money, bam, they get it right away!
Second of all, PUBLIC RETIREMENTS are going to be used for BAD ASSET BUYS -- turning those funds into JUNK?
Oh, you are getting SO SCREWED, AmeriKa!!!!
"My assumption is that most of the capital will come from the savings of the American people," he said.
The GREATEST LOOTING JOB in WORLD HISTORY!!
And YOU were the VICTIM, America!!!!!!!!!
Kashkari said he didn't expect the private sector investment to get any advantage over the government's investment. "If the private sector wins, the taxpayer wins," he said. "If the taxpayer loses, the private sector loses."
The guy is a LIAR!!!!
"Investors said they were unlikely to buy into the idea unless the government puts up a lot of the money and promises to absorb a lot of the losses.... The first loss has got to be the government's"
That means YOU, TAXPAYER!!!"
That's right, he's a BALD-FACED and BALD-HEADED LIAR!!!!!!
Lawmakers voiced frustration with what they said was a continued lack of clarity from the Treasury on how banks spend money they receive under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The government has used more than $300 billion in taxpayer money to infuse financial institutions with cash, much of it by purchasing stock and other assets.
That the CHANGE you thought Obama was bringing?
Subcommittee chairman Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, complained financial institutions that got TARP money have made billions of dollars in foreign investments. "If the banking system is in serious enough trouble to require massive amounts of federal support, shouldn't that federal support be channeled to the domestic economy?" he asked.
Then they can PAY BACK the BAILOUT $$$$, right?
Kashkari said it's difficult to track whether foreign loans were made with US deposits.
The guy is just a fountain of lies, isn't he? Guess all that spying power is useless, huh?
House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, disputed that. "We are trying to stop them from using the money that's advanced by the American taxpayer overseas," he said.
Pffft! Barney Frank! I no longer listen to that duplicitous gas-bag!
--more--"
Memory Hole: Barney and Business
Barney Frank is Bush's Best Friend
Barney Frank Benefited From Bailout Bill
