September 30, 2010
WHILE W DESERVES THE LION'S SHARE...:
TARP’s a bipartisan success (Joshua Green, September 30, 2010, Boston Globe)
BRAINTEASER: NAME the last major law to draw meaningful bipartisan support in Congress. Tough question, isn’t it? The answer is the Troubled Asset Relief Program, better known as “the Wall Street bailout.’’Hard to believe now, but before President Bush signed the $700 billion rescue plan into law in October 2008, it passed the House by a 228-205 vote, with 91 Republicans in support, and the Senate by a 74-25 vote, with 32 Republicans. But you won’t hear much bragging. The loudest theme on the fall campaign trail is full-throated outrage at the depravity of the bailouts and those who voted for them. [...]
The Congressional Budget Office recently lowered its estimate of what TARP will cost taxpayers to $66 billion. With interest, dividends, anticipated profits, and the unexpectedly small commitment to housing — not all reflected in the CBO’s conservative estimate — it is possible to envision an outcome in which TARP costs little or nothing.
...everyone deserves some credit, for preventing a Depression, except for the House GOP.
