We don't care that it's taxpayer money, we're not telling...

ProPublica.com reports that the Treasury is not coughing up details of the contracts it signed to help manage the TARP bailout program.

 

Read the report here.

ANP Report: Congress didn't read the fine print...sounds a lot like credit card users...and that's what the banks counted on.

The American News Project reports what we already discovered...just like consumers who blow past the penalties because the banks have made the rules so confusing on the credit cards, Congress blew it with the TARP plan by not understanding  just how much leeway they were giving the banks -- like no oversight at all. Your tax dollars at work.

Congress Ignored Critical Bailout Oversight

By  Lagan Sebert Danielle Ivory on Dec 19, 2008

Everyone in Washington knows that the government has been handing billions of bailout dollars to the banks. But no one seems know what the banks have done with all the money. Despite the fact that Congress wrote more than one hundred pages about oversight in the $700 billion bailout bill, they left a gaping hole.

Keywords: 700 billion, bailout, bank of america, banks, Barney Frank, Congress, Economic crisis, Foreclosure, Henry Paulson, Neel Kashkari, oversight, tarp, treasury, United States, wachovia, Washington DC

 

 

What Would Leo Do?

Interesting confessional post from Sandy Bragg at Integrity Research today. Sandy was managing director of Ratings Development at Standard & Poor's when I was there as a director of communications. He  suggests that S&P may have lost its way a bit with the passing of its iconic leader Leo O'Neill (pictured at left). If you knew Leo or were at S&P during the O'Neill era, what do you think?

Let's remember how we got here...

A few years ago, during the Enron debacle, one of the many spoofs of the collapse that appeared was a parody of the Sprint PCS ad with the guy in the black coat. In the satire version, he is explaining that the Arthur Andersen partner called his secretary to say "Ship all the Enron documents to the Feds," but because they weren't using the "pin drop" clear network of Sprint, she misunderstood the boss to say "Rip all the Enron documents to shreds."

Frank Rich reminds us in his New York Times column today that the present administration and many of the players in the financial industry who are getting off with no consequences in this mess were very active in protecting their friends at Enron.

Bob Rubin of Citigroup even made phone calls to get Treasury officials to put pressure on rating agencies not to downgrade Enron securities. And he's pretty much unrepentant about it.

We know there's continued indifference on Wall Street and the other financial canyons of New York to the plight these companies have created for ordinary people. They are out for themselves only, and they don't really care how many jobs they have to cut, as long as they continue to own their Hamptons beach homes and get lives of privilege.

They just don't understand, do they?

This was on the sign at The Mansion, a lavish catering hall in Voorhees, NJ. Let's give these guys some taxpayer money so the can have a good breakfast out, right?

Yeah, I'm in favor of that.

Frying pan to the fire... to the fire...once more...

Christina Pretto, who once did PR for Standard & Poor's, and left for Citibank shortly after Leah Johnson bolted from S&P for a bigger payday at Citi, has now left Citi to take over Chris Winans role at AIG. This is according to not necessarily reliable Jack O'Dwyer's newsletter.

Ironically, Jon Diat, who handled equity side PR at S&P, has filled Pretto's post at Citi.

Wondering what happened to Shannon Bell, who went from S&P to Zurich Financial, to Citi, where Johnson reconstituted the team she built with Bell and Pretto...

You get the torches, I'll get the pitchforks, and we'll all meet up at Broad and Wall tonight when the black car service cars arrive...

I don't know about you, but the behavior of the financial services industry in the wake of the taxpayer funded bailout makes me cringe that I was ever part of that group. Yes, I worked in financial services for a long time -- nearly 10 years in a rating agency and five in commercial banking. The people running these companies must think the American public are a bunch of idiots.

If they have any kind of qualified communications counselors working for them, they sure aren't listening to any advice. Today, a Congressional hearing probed the Treasury's TARP czar about the ridiculous "stay bonuses" being tallied up for AIG executives. What? They are getting bonuses to keep them from quitting? How about letting them quit and saving their entire salaries?

Hint to Congressional investigators: keep an eye on the holiday parties at these companies. Anyone who thinks the banks and their minions are NOT going to have parties is breathing vapors.

They are still going to party like it's 1999, and what's worse, everyone -- EVERYONE -- will get a voucher for a black town car to take them home from Manhattan to bedroom communities across Connecticut and New Jersey. Stand on the NJ Turnpike overpass and wave to the black Lincoln town cars whizzing south from the Lincoln Tunnel.

So we must OUT the industry. We must call attention to the excess. Send me info, email, call, let me know where and when these parties are taking place. There must be internal memos alerting people to the details. I've been to too many parties at Windows on the World, and Lola's, and Harry's on Hanover Square. You all know the regular places these things are held. Tell me about them. Anonymously if you must. I have broad shoulders and not a lot of hair left, and I don't need to worry about coming out of the Bowling Green station on Monday morning.

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