A Year Later, Barofsky Sees a 'Far More Dangerous' Financial Situation

Neil Barofsky is the man who tracks the historic bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP. Named in December, the 39-year-old special inspector general monitors a dozen separate bailout-related programs, which now account for nearly $3 trillion in financial commitments. Barofsky has subpoena power and, as a former federal prosecutor who successfully pursued white-collar crime, he has wasted no time in demanding details from institutions rescued by TARP. From a floor of office on L Street, the man known as SIGTARP has launched about two dozen investigations. 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. 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," he said.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Barofsky
• Seven Questions
• TARP
• $700 billion bailout

[ScottFaculak]

"Heads I win, tails the taxpayer pays for it."

Says it all...

[stanbimi]

Is it possible to clone Neil Barofsky? There is a great demand for public officers like him.

[78booby]

Mr Barofsky...."follow the money".

[bertly71]

Such honesty and clarity is so refreshing these days from anyone in the government or media. I am not a fan of the TARPs, or the concept, but this explains it very well.

[beancube2008]

The harshest conservative using foreign debtors to control our economy are those who are asking harshest questions in our communities but who are suppressing investigations for us to understand the system, who are always reminding you the debts they created for you, and who are continuously dividing you from your own government controlled by the mass media propaganda machine. Internet where we can see facts and comments will be lost and blocked. We urgently need alternative communication tools.

[mscir]

Obama, where is the transparency, where are the jobs, where are the new factories, where are the closed military bases and ended wars, where is the change?

Obama is a centrist, always has been, surrounded himself with wall street rich insiders and gave them trillions, hasn't given the middle class squat.

Our country is going to hell and Obama isn't doing anything.

Vote Ron Paul!

[Antegrav]

Pass the FairTax and double it. The reason these rich cats have so much money is "we give it to them". It's time for us all to stop spending and start making our own stuff, trading with our neighbors, and STOP USING THEIR MONEY. We don't need Them.

[hoganfan924]

"TARP funds are being used by these banks......to buy securities with them."

WTF? Can you say "to manipulate the markets?"

[leeannethethird]

Please put dates on all YouTube videos, indeed, on all web pages.

Dates matter.

[CSM897]

The last line of this interview is a bombshell.