John R. Talbott
Bestselling author whose books predicted the economic crisis
TARP Uncovered — the Real Cost of the Government Bailout
The New York Times reports this morning (“TARP Bailout to Cost Less Than Once Anticipated“) that the true cost of TARP will be less than $50 billion. I find this type of reporting to be incredibly misleading and deceitful. Focusing solely on TARP and ignoring the other more costly portions of the government bailout of our biggest banks and corporations ignores the true cost of the government's (both the Bush and Obama administrations, the Fed and Congress) inept response to this crisis. One of the reasons that TARP did not cost more was because of the government's other more costly bailout policies, and to ignore them is to dramatically understate the true cost of the bailout.
By claiming a narrow TARP success, the Times attempts to invalidate citizen anger at the bailout by making it appear that the electorate is somehow misinformed about its costs or is just plain stupid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Claiming that TARP was successful, but ignoring the much larger and more relevant costs of other areas of the government bailout is like claiming the voyage of the Titanic was successful because many of the lifeboats were recovered. It is important to remember that the ship sunk.
Read his entire article with detail list that adds up to:
- Total estimated cost of government bailout = $14.85 trillion.
John R. Talbott is the bestselling author of eight books on economics and politics that have accurately detailed and predicted the causes and devastating effects of this entire financial crisis including, in 2003, “The Coming Crash in the Housing Market”, in January 2006, “Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble” and in 2008, “Contagion: The Financial Epidemic that is Sweeping the Global Economy”.
Phi Beta Iota: This author impresses us. This is precisely the kind of public intelligence in the public interest that must be structured so as to be available to all citizens in time to keep government honest as well as effective.
