Who gets bailed out?

There are two bankers with opposing facts.

One banker, from Chicago, said that bailout money was going to banks that were in control of their assets, banks that made the right decisions that kept them stable enough to survive the current banking crisis, allowing them to take over management of banks that failed.

Another banker, from Springfield, who sits on the board of trustees at a local bank, said that bailout money was going to banks that were struggling so they could pull themselves out of the current crisis by shoring up their defaulted loans.

One of these opinions is correct. The truth is that Treasury Secretary Paulson gave money to some banks, and those banks in turn bought out some banks that were struggling, and also bought banks that were not struggling.

As the title of the program implies, the Tangible Asset Recovery Program (TARP)appeared on the surface to benefit home owners who were lured into sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages. They, and other defaulting borrowers have yet to receive a dime.

The first $350 billion was dolled out and the results were not as congress expected, so when it came time for Secretary Paulson to ask for more, congress thought they could open the books and question him about what was done with the first half of the money.

OOPS!