HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports" To Air Interview With Former TARP Special Inspector General, Neil Barofsky

Did the 2008 taxpayer bailout of the nation's biggest banks help feed economic recovery - or did it just give the banks a blank check? Tuesday, June 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET

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HDNet

Jun 06, 2011, 04:38 ET

DALLAS, June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports" will air an in-depth interview with Neil Barofsky, who recently stepped down as the Special Inspector General for TARP, the Troubled Assets Recovery Program, more commonly known as the $700 billion dollar taxpayer bailout of the country's biggest banks.

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Barofsky shares with Rather his candid views about the how the lack of conditions built into TARP – conditions that would make sure that the banks receiving the funds would use this money to increase lending – just helped the banks increase profits. And, he warns that any safeguards that are supposed to be in place to help avoid another bank meltdown are woefully insufficient – that another, bigger crisis could be right around the corner.

"The danger is forgetting that all of the things that lead to the last financial crisis are still in place," Barofsky tells Rather.

However, now that these banks are up bigger, another financial crisis could be catastrophic for the U.S. economy.

And, Barofsky believes that it's only a matter of time before the government will need to bail out the large banks again.

http://www.hd.net/blogs/2011/06/barofsky-more-bailouts/

Barofsky also tells Rather that, while TARP was supposed to encourage banks to begin lending money again, that didn't happen.

"It (TARP) was supposed to restore home owning," said Barofsky. "It was supposed to keep up to 4 million people in their homes and not lose them to foreclosure."

Who is to blame for the current state of TARP and how can we avoid another, larger collapse? Don't miss "Dan Rather Reports" tomorrow night on HDNet.

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