Shadow Government "Money" Supply Growth from ShadowStats

Chart of U.S. Money Supply Growth

23 October, 2009

Rolling Up the TARP

An editorial in the Washington Examiner, http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Uncovering-the-bull-under-the-bailout-8426220.html#, notes that TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky wrote a 256-page report to Congress detailing the Treasury Department's failure to implement anti-fraud measures, or even to require TARP recipients to report how they used the billions Congress and the Treasury Department gave them, and that its "highly unlikely" that $317,000,000,000.00 (billion) will ever be repaid. In the final paragraph, the editorial mentions "Incredibly, just Wednesday, President Obama announced a new TARP-like program..." suggesting that "The madness in Washington won't stop until the people completely clean house at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue." While I agree with the necessity to "completely clean house" (and have since before GHW Bush got "selected" in '88), I believe there IS, in fact, a way to secure repayment of all "bailout bucks" -- and repair the damage done to our nation, states, and people -- in a relatively short fashion.

The means has already been demonstrated, and sanctioned by the Supreme Court ore than 4 years ago, in Kelo v. New London: The answer is to condemn ans seize Wall Street under Eminent Domain.

For those that are too lazy to look it up, "eminent domain" is the power to seize private property for public use. Imagine, for a moment, the price per square foot of Wall Street. All of the offices, on all of the floors, of all of those towering monuments to the power of "creative finance".

Although use of eminent domain power generally requires "compensation" for the taking, the argument can easily be made that all of Goldfinger (which includes, but is in no way limited to, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan entities, Citi entities, etc.) have already "received" their compensation: TARP funds.

In one fell swoop, the "debt" that CONgress put Americans not yet even born "on the hook for" can be wiped out; "the taxpayers" will have secured the repayment of "TARP" bailouts through the most expensive real estate in the world. If Goldfinger doesn't like it, we can offer to sell Wall Street back (owner-financed, of course -to keep Goldfinger's FED out of the transaction- at 2008 prices, with interest at 5% over LIBOR, of course).