Inspector General: Treasury Secretary Forced Banks to Surrender Ownership Interest to Government

In a new report, Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), reveals that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and key federal regulators forced the nation’s nine largest financial institutions to take billions in taxpayer bailout dollars in October 2008, threatening that if the banks refused, the government would take their stock shares anyway.

5 Ways the Government Used Our Money to Save Big Banks and Screw Us

The government hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about how it has made buckets of money available to the banking sector. But here’s what really happened.

US debt to hit $20 trillion by 2020

Forecasts published this week by the Obama administration and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate that the US national debt will nearly double over the next 10 years to about $20 trillion.

Video: Kucinich – the Federal Reserve is paying banks NOT to make loans to struggling Americans!

(C-SPAN -July 21, 2009) – U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio, 10th District) questions Neil M. Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, about interest payments made to banks that keep their TARP funds and other government (taxpayer) bailout money with the Federal Reserve, instead of making loans to struggling Americans (the original intent of the TARP, remember?) The Fed makes generous interest payments to the banks for “parking” their “excess reserves” at the Fed.

Financial Crime in America

Why Hasn’t Obama Targeted The Ongoing White Collar Crime Wave?