TARP report gives sobering update on goals attained

“[There] is no question that the dramatic steps taken by Treasury and other federal agencies through TARP and related programs were a success on Wall Street,” the report states, adding that while Main Street benefited from the rescue, it also “suffered alone” in “areas in which TARP has fallen short of its goals.” 

One shortfall was providing credit to small businesses. 

“Indeed, even now, overall lending continues to contract despite the hundreds of billions of TARP dollars provided to banks with the express purpose to increase lending,” the report states. 

The report also states that TARP has “fallen woefully short” in its goal to preserve homeownership. 

It found that the mortgage modification program has so far yielded approximately 207,000 ongoing permanent modifications, compared to the 5.5 million homes receiving foreclosure filings and the more than 1.7 million home that have been lost to foreclosure since January 2009. 

The report also notes that it helped to create moral hazard by promising to support banks that otherwise were likely to have failed.

“The biggest banks are bigger than ever, fueled by government support and taxpayer-assisted mergers and acquisitions,” it states, adding that the situation gave “significant advantage to the larger ‘too big to fail’ banks.” 

In addition, the report states that much of the “anger, cynicism and mistrust” that voters have with the program is “based on entirely legitimate concerns” because the program lacked transparency. 

“When Treasury refuses for more than a year to require TARP recipients to account for the use of TARP funds … it damages the public’s trust to a degree that is difficult to repair,” the report states. 

A copy of the report can be found here.