Fox Biz Anchor 'Frustrated' by Misuse of TARP
Fox Business Network anchor Alexis Glick is frustrated by the way the government’s $700 billion financial bailout is being used, and suggested on “Money for Breakfast” Nov. 21 that it was contributing to market declines.
“I mean, look, we are now at levels at least on the S&P that we haven’t been since 1997. You know, people are pretty unhappy with how the TARP fund is going,” Glick said in an interview with NYSE Euronex CEO Duncan Niederauer. “I mean, it’s got to be – I’m frustrated, I mean I don’t know about you.”
It’s not the first time that Glick has taken issue with the misuse of TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
When Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced Nov. 12 that he would be redirecting the $700 billion bailout to focus on propping up financial institutions instead of buying troubled mortgage assets, Glick expressed discontent on CBS’s “The Early Show.”
“If anybody can do this overnight, maybe we are going a little too far,” said Glick, also pointing out that the Treasury Department’s move away from the original plan to buy up troubled mortgages “does not make sense” and was “actually pretty outrageous.”
“[T]he markets responded to that yesterday.” Glick told co-host Maggie Rodriguez. “Look, the original intent of this Troubled Asset Relief Program was to purchase troubled assets. And I think the marketplace started to adjust several weeks ago when we started to see the size and magnitude of the capital injections.”
Glick developed her complaints about the use of TARP further Nov. 13 on her blog, “The Glick Report” at FoxBusiness.com. She had a lot of questions and criticisms of the bailout plan:
“Three, didn’t Paulson say the root of the problem is housing? So why are we still arguing about the solution? There’s a plan called Hope Now, FHASecure, thru Fannie and Freddie, by the FDIC, by private banks. Are you confused? Is it a mess? Is there one central well thought out solution? No,” she wrote. “Ask any borrower or home owner how to figure this out? They’re at a loss. Should we do something to help homeowners? Absolutely. Why didn’t we address this from the start? How come there wasn’t language in the original TARP program that required financial institutions to refinance homeowners if they took TARP funds. It’s a mess!!!”
Glick explained on her blog Nov. 20 the two programs that the government put into place, TARP and the Federal Reserve Bank’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF).
“The TARP fund has not lived up to anyone’s expectations. Its original purpose to purchase troubled assets failed,” said Glick Nov. 20. “Many people in the industry said it was a failed concept from the very beginning because there was no way to figure out how to sell troubled assets in the open marketplace through multiple reverse auctions.”
Glick was more optimistic on CPFF:
“The CPFF or Commercial Paper Funding Facility that the Federal Reserve Bank started on October 27th has done terrific things for the companies that can get access to that type of funding. The companies that the Federal Reserve Bank is willing to purchase
