Bailout Cost Estimates Were Misleading: Watchdog ( Remember TARP?)

CNBC ^ | Monday, 25 Oct 2010 | 4:12 PM ET | By: Reuters

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Obama administration's latest estimate of taxpayer costs of the Wall Street bailout is too rosy and could ultimately damage public trust in government, the top bailout cop said on Monday.

woodleywonderworks

A SIGTARP report says the Treasury may have used misleading methods for calculating the cost of the bailout.

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In its quarterly report to Congress, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said the Treasury Department's bailout cost estimate for American International Group was an example of using misleading numbers to paint a positive pre-election account of the program.

The administration on Sept. 30 slashed its estimate of the overall cost of the U.S. financial bailout by more than half to less than $50 billion on the back of a new plan to sell the government's stake in insurer AIG.

The SIGTARP report said the Treasury Department, in coming up with the fresh estimate, had changed its calculation method to estimate a $5 billion cost for AIG. That was a shift from an earlier projection of $45 billion that used a broader measure to calculate the cost.

Public anger at the bailout of Wall Street has been a major factor in congressional races ahead of a Nov. 2 election in which

[kbennkc]

But wasn't the Mav for it? How could that have gone wrong?/sarc

[ilovesarah2012]

“...could ultimately damage public trust in government, the top bailout cop said on Monday.”

What public trust???

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Related article at CNBC:

What GOP Win in November Would Mean for Investors

***********************************EXCERPT*************************************

Friday, 22 Oct 2010 | 1:59 PM ET

The notion of congressional gridlock has become almost a mantra of the election season, amid hopes that divided government leads to inaction and an easing of Washington's onslaught against Wall Street.

Those wishes are predicated on Republicans almost certainly taking back the House and possibly the Senate after two years of Democratic rule that produced the most prolific flurry of legislation since Lyndon B. Johnson sat in the Oval Office.

But what would a Republican-led Congress look like, and how would that impact investors? The answer may not be so obvious as it seems.

"If the changes do come to fruition and the Republicans do gain the House and maybe even control of the Senate, the market will react positively toward that," says Peter Cardillo, chief economist at Avalon Partners in New York.

"It'll be positive in the short term but in the long term it could have a negative effect. The Republicans will do everything in their power to stop excessive spending and that means more austerity on the way. That could mean the market will have to take a different approach."

What that approach entails could take a variety of forms. Here are three possible outcomes:

[Nachum]

The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[knarf]

This just pisses me the f*** off!

Anyone with at least 2 brain cells and certainly everyone here in FR KNEW it was a lie and a hustle from jump street.

[Huskrrrr]

SHAZAAM!!!

[don-o]

I believe you're upset. Can that upset not be expressed in standard English?

Profanity: How small minds try to speak with strength?

[Marine_Uncle]

For whatever it is worth. Perhaps the following site may be of some interests for some to view.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This will help keep the anger going...read this from Bloomberg:

Treasury Shields Citigroup as Deletions Undercut Disclosure

[griswold3]

Exactly!
U.S. Financial Markets: The Well Has Been Poisoned (Anger of the Honest Part II)
(October 23, 2010)
www.oftwominds.com

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

That looks to be useful...but I think it only goes part way....

What about what the Fed is doing...?

[FromLori]

By what the Fed. is doing do you mean destroying the dollar and screwing the savers?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39828427

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-biggest-bank-robbery-in-history-more-quantitative-easing-backdoor-bailouts-for-the-big-banks-without-having-to-go-through-congress

[Marine_Uncle]

"By what the Fed. is doing do you mean destroying the dollar and screwing the savers?"
Has to repeat it for starters Lori. The original amount for the TARP was never doled out. Since the goons got in the Treasury Department had widely expanded who the felt and MOST qualify to receive TARP funds.
This crap as laid down by Fed and TD that let Obama man handle some of the largest banks into receiving funds was pure crap from the beginning. I call it extortion. And the banks went along with it.
And the crap that we will somehow pay down the national debt and other excuses the feed the public with the supposedly handsome returns via. penalties, interest on the loans etc., likewise is poppy cock.
Just look at the total amount of money supposedly paid back so far.
That might be a few starting gripes.

[Marine_Uncle]

I should brush up on my spelling. Don’t count the whoops.