TARP, short for Trouble Asset Relief Program, is one of the most idiotic, self-destructive, counter-productive, socialistic and anti-free market programs in our modern history. TARP will be later known as one of the reasons the U.S. economy never had a chance to recover. Taxpayers were forced into a bailout of banks and left holding the bag.
TARP was not a capitalistic move, so stop hating and blaming capitalism!
You have the right to be mad, but be mad at the core of the idea which is anchored deep in socialistic ideology.
Sure, you will hear how TARP saved the financial system which is nothing more than a cheap lie. It is very misleading and the financial system is in worse shape now then it was back in 2008. Banks made business decisions and free market capitalism dictates one of the two possible outcomes: 1. A business which makes smart business decisions will be financially rewarded by the free market capitalistic system which is designed to increase assets and wealth. 2. A business which makes dumb business decisions will fail and cease to exist, also known as Economic Darwinism. No bailouts, period! None!
Those banks made dumb business decisions and therefore should have allowed to fail. The natural path for those banks was failure. The government decided to interfere and created an even bigger problem which will haunt taxpayers and the economy for generations. The current so called recovery has been the slowest on record, thanks TARP.
Russia had a financial crisis, decided not to bailout banks and allowed them to fail. Russia emerged as the second richest country by assets on this planet. South Korea had a financial crisis, decided not to bailout banks and allowed them to fail. South Korea emerged as an Asian Tiger with strong and solid above average GDP growth.
Japan had a financial crisis, decided to bailout banks and did not allow them to fail. Japan has faced economic problems ever since then despite being a manufacturing and exporting powerhouse. Some call it the Lost Decade while Japan will face plenty of those. The U.S. will face the same, but instead of a Lost Decade it will be later known as a Lost Century or the collapse of a once great society. Game over!
Here is a little TARP update:
1. 707 banks received a bailout and were forced to continue business as usual.
2. 382 banks have repaid their loan, but 137 have done so with more government loans which bring that number down to 245. About 240 of those will fail within the next five years.
3. 325 have yet to figure out a way to repay TARP and 203 out of those have missed dividend and/or interest payments. Add those 203 to future bank failures.
4. In 2013 the dividend will increase from 5% to 9%. Banks made a deal with the socialists and experience the socialistic ways from now on. Yes, more bank failures on the horizon. A lot more.
Of course the socialists will throw positive arguments in your face such as the $19 billion tax payers have ‘earned’ as a result from TARP. They fail to mention that it cost them over $700 billion upfront plus countless fees and sacrifices such as a continued recession, high unemployment and a future depression. Nice job idiots!
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