It concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald is solely responsible for the banking crash.
Opps, wrong Warren. This one's Elizabeth.
This report is in fact very interesting.
TARP Report
The Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report released yesterday, also said the Treasury may be relying on too rosy an economic scenario to guide its $700 billion bailout, and declared that the success of the program after six months is "mixed." Three of the group’s members disagreed with at least some of the findings.
This I think is the key issue which the report raises.
In the report, Warren’s panel said "it is possible that Treasury’s approach fails to acknowledge the depth of the current downturn and the degree to which the low valuation of troubled assets accurately reflects their worth."
They go on to examine the issue of whether the crisis is primarily a short term liquidity problem as Geithner and the banking industry claim or it reflects a long term decline in the value of real estate assets. This really is the crux of the matter. If the first view is essentially correct then the approach being pursued by the administration stands a good chance of working. If it is fundamentally wrong then a very different approach is going to be required.
Warren is also calling for greater transparency from Geithner and the Treasury Dept. in how they are spending the tax payers money.
While the majority report of the panel is not yet demanding that the administration change its policy they make a strong point of saying that there is much to recommend an approach of seizure and liquidation of troubled banks. They raise the possibility that it may yet be necessary.
The panel has five members. The two Republican appointees John Sununu and Jeb Hensarling dissented from the entire report.
This report does not represent a broad consensus about much of anything. What it does represent is the reality that very serious people with a great deal of government and financial experience have very fundamentally different views about the nature of the problem and its likely solutions. Anybody who expects this to be settled quickly and quietly is simply not in touch with reality.