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Special Inspector General of TARP Neil Barofsky has been making some noise lately. He appeared on the nationally-broadcast CBS Early Show this morning; he was before the House Oversight Committee last week blaming Geithner for the AIG bonus rip-off, and this afternoon the quarterly TARP progress report was released.
A few weeks ago, he sat down with Lagan Sebert and Christine Spolar of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund. You might remember their outstanding work from this video. Barofsky is candid and revealing in this 5-minute clip. One of his best interviews to date.
Text below is from Huff Po:
In a half-hour interview with the Investigative Fund, Barofsky lays out the breadth of his work and is blunt in his assessment about whether the financial system, now with fewer and bigger banks, is yet safe.
- "I think we may be in a far more dangerous place today than we were a year ago."
Neil Barofsky is the man who tracks the historic bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. The 39-year-old special inspector general monitors a dozen separate bailout-related programs that now account for nearly $3 trillion in financial commitments. A former federal prosecutor, Barofsky has subpoena power and has launched about three dozen investigations since being named to the post in December 2008. In an audit released in July, Barofsky made clear that he was intent on demanding transparency from all quarters -- including the U.S. Treasury. His next audit is due in October. During an interview with the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Barofsky made some striking observations.
- He found hundreds of banks capable of tracking their use of the TARP money - despite claims by the U.S. Treasury that the task was impossible.
- If the purpose of the TARP rescue was to increase lending, it has failed.
- The U.S. financial system, now dependent on bigger and fewer banks, is shakier than ever.
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