Fuck its silent in here.......

[SKO]

TARPfail and HAMPfail.

Though there is no question that the country benefited by avoiding a meltdown of the financial system, this cannot be the only yardstick by which TARP's legacy is measured. The legislation that created TARP, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, had far broader goals, including protecting home values and preserving homeownership.

These Main Street-oriented goals were not, as the Treasury Department is now suggesting, mere window dressing that needed only to be taken "into account." Rather, they were a central part of the compromise with reluctant members of Congress to cast a vote that in many cases proved to be political suicide.

The act's emphasis on preserving homeownership was particularly vital to passage. Congress was told that TARP would be used to purchase up to $700 billion of mortgages, and, to obtain the necessary votes, Treasury promised that it would modify those mortgages to assist struggling homeowners. Indeed, the act expressly directs the department to do just that.

But it has done little to abide by this legislative bargain. Almost immediately, as permitted by the broad language of the act, Treasury's plan for TARP shifted from the purchase of mortgages to the infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation's largest financial institutions, a shift that came with the express promise that it would restore lending.

Treasury, however, provided the money to banks with no effective policy or effort to compel the extension of credit. There were no strings attached: no requirement or even incentive to increase lending to home buyers, and against our strong recommendation, not even a request that banks report how they used TARP funds. It was only in April of last year, in response to recommendations from our office, that Treasury asked banks to provide that information, well after the largest banks had already repaid their loans. It was therefore no surprise that lending did not increase but rather continued to decline well into the recovery.

Where's the money, Chuck?  Where is it?

In the bottomless subterranean vaults of the Elders of Zion. Duh.

[Chuck to Chuck]

TARPfail and HAMPfail.

Though there is no question that the country benefited by avoiding a meltdown of the financial system, this cannot be the only yardstick by which TARP's legacy is measured. The legislation that created TARP, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, had far broader goals, including protecting home values and preserving homeownership.

These Main Street-oriented goals were not, as the Treasury Department is now suggesting, mere window dressing that needed only to be taken "into account." Rather, they were a central part of the compromise with reluctant members of Congress to cast a vote that in many cases proved to be political suicide.

The act's emphasis on preserving homeownership was particularly vital to passage. Congress was told that TARP would be used to purchase up to $700 billion of mortgages, and, to obtain the necessary votes, Treasury promised that it would modify those mortgages to assist struggling homeowners. Indeed, the act expressly directs the department to do just that.

But it has done little to abide by this legislative bargain. Almost immediately, as permitted by the broad language of the act, Treasury's plan for TARP shifted from the purchase of mortgages to the infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation's largest financial institutions, a shift that came with the express promise that it would restore lending.

Treasury, however, provided the money to banks with no effective policy or effort to compel the extension of credit. There were no strings attached: no requirement or even incentive to increase lending to home buyers, and against our strong recommendation, not even a request that banks report how they used TARP funds. It was only in April of last year, in response to recommendations from our office, that Treasury asked banks to provide that information, well after the largest banks had already repaid their loans. It was therefore no surprise that lending did not increase but rather continued to decline well into the recovery.

Where's the money, Chuck?  Where is it?

Don't ask me!
This bank is TARP Free!

[Gilgamesh]

God bless America (and Delaware too): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ZZHGO5sXw&feature=player_embedded

[Quality Start Machine]

Some outside-the-box thinking.

[Slaky]

Sports.

[flannj]

God bless America (and Delaware too): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ZZHGO5sXw&feature=player_embedded

Gil bringing the politics AND Sports in one post.

[SKO]

God bless America (and Delaware too): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ZZHGO5sXw&feature=player_embedded

Gil bringing the politics AND Sports in one post.

There can be no compromise. You are either WITH sports or AGAINST sports.

[SKO]

The nutbags put one of these up in my town:


Better start repenting now, assholes.

[Tinker to Evers to Chance]

The nutbags put one of these up in my town:


Better start repenting now, assholes.

Do you think God will wait until the Cubs-Red Sox game is over before sending us to hell?

[SKO]

The nutbags put one of these up in my town:


Better start repenting now, assholes.

Do you think God will wait until the Cubs-Red Sox game is over before sending us to hell?

I'll still be a week into my post-graduation binge, so I don't think I'll notice either way.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Better start repenting now, assholes.

How cool would it be to have The Rapture occur during the "Live Open Forum!"

[CT III]

The nutbags put one of these up in my town:


Better start repenting now, assholes.

THE BIBLE GUARANTEES* IT, or your money back!


*Guarantee void in Tennessee

[CBStew]

The nutbags put one of these up in my town:


Better start repenting now, assholes.

THE BIBLE GUARANTEES* IT, or your money back!


*Guarantee void in Tennessee

So what Jonah 3:8 says is,  "But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence."

It is easy to see how God guaranteed the END in that passage.

[Quality Start Machine]

The nutbags put one of these up in my town:


Better start repenting now, assholes.

THE BIBLE GUARANTEES* IT, or your money back!


*Guarantee void in Tennessee

So what Jonah 3:8 says is,  "But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence."

It is easy to see how God guaranteed the END in that passage.

A pig's an animal, right?

I figure God's just gonna poke his head out like Porky Pig and say, "That's all, folks!"

[CBStew]

So Jonah,  you want me to dress my Chihuahua in sackcloth instead of his regular pink outfit?