Where Did My Money Went?

-By NOAH

Heh, heh. Follow my hands closely. Where’s the Queen? Card 1, 2, or 3. Put your money down! Yep. Sure looks like any Three Card Monte street dude’s got nothin’ on Hank the Grifter Paulson and his trusty sidekick Timmy G. and their roving gangs of enablers when it comes to making our (TARP) money vanish into the thick air of Wall Street. I came across this article this morning, courtesy of McClatchy Newspapers, one of the few remaining who do any digging into the stories of our time. It’s headlined: Where Did That Bank Bailout Go? Watchdogs Aren’t Sure.

Ten months into the Troubled Asset Relief Program, some members of Congress say that some oversight of bailout dollars has been so lacking that it's essentially worthless.

Ken pointed out that this is a decent description of Congress itself. And this comes despite a new oversight panel and a new special inspector added to eight other inspectors and the Government Accountability Office. They say they don’t have the weapons they need.

This is classic Washington; set up a fancy new panel, appoint some officials, do it all in front of the cameras for TV, and then, make sure they don’t have the funding and tools to do the job! Oldest trick in the book? Maybe they should have taken some small percentage of those billions that went to the banksters and other Wall Street miscreants and given it to the GAO so that we would know what was being done with our money, but, hey, I guess that ran counter to the big picture agenda. The article goes on to say:

Access and openness have improved in recent months, watchdogs say, but the program still has a way to go before it's truly transparent.

OK. But haven’t the horses left the barn? Critics of the overseers point to the fact that the overseers haven’t heard much testimony from top officials like Hank the Grifter. True enough, but, with one exception, the overseers conveniently weren’t given subpoena power. As Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law professor who chairs one of the TARP oversight panels says, they “only have the capacity to invite” officials. I guess the oft-invited Hank the Grifter had a whole bunch o’ scheduling conflicts and just couldn’t make it. Maybe, some other time (in some other way far away dimension). Neil Borofsky the SPECIAL inspector general, appointed by Dubya last November, does have subpoena powers, and, a large staff, so, we shall see. Maybe. He may just find it mighty difficult to deal with a Treasury Department that remains recalcitrant no matter who’s in charge. It’s been many moons and I’m not holding my breath.
 
So, where did the money go Where did my money go? Where did your money go? Maybe that all-seeing eye on the back of your one dollar bills knows something. Start looking in black holes. Check the Caiman Islands! Check China! Check the driveways in Short Hills and Greenwich! How 'bout the wifey's jewelry case! The kids' "tuition fund"! Did someone check Bush’s luggage when he sped out of town? Check the Senators' campaign contributions received list! I help you. You help me. Oh how happy we will be!
 
I’m shocked and appalled, I tell ya. Shocked and appalled. Well, appalled, yes. Shocked? No. Hey, It’s just Biiiiiiizzness.