The top cop tracking the $700 billion bailout program said Monday that he's concerned federal officials are ignoring his proposals for preventing tax dollars from being wasted or pilfered.
Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, released a 260-page report detailing a long list of concerns about government efforts to prop up hundreds of banks, Wall Street firms and auto companies.
The report criticizes the Treasury Department the most for its unwillingness to adopt some of his recommendations.
Barofsky cites two examples: He wants Treasury to force bailout recipients to keep track of how exactly they are spending TARP funds. He also wants officials to erect a "firewall" to prevent private investment managers -- the kind hired to manage and invest taxpayer dollars -- from taking advantage of insider knowledge.
I guess it is too much to ask Treasury to:
a) ask TARP recipients to keep track of where the money is going
b) discourage insider trading
"This administration promised an 'unprecedented level' of accountability and oversight, but as this report reveals, they are falling far short of that promise," Issa said. "In fact, the Treasury Department is actively obstructing transparency. The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent -- especially considering they are the ones who are footing the bill."The brazen, unapologetic manner in which the self-anointed aristocrats of our nation are selling the rest of us down the river is literally breathtaking. We are quickly becoming a Banana Republic, and few seem to care.
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