and t.a.r.p. related crime we were given jurisdiction which is primarily the reason i think i was so ready for the job as someone had a background as being a federal prosecutor. the second part of the mandate was brought and was just a generalized oversight transparency reporting function, so specifically we were given the authority to audit all things that happened under t.a.r.p. and reaction taken by treasury, but also the responsibility is to be tell everything that was going on at t.a.r.p., everything going on at sigtarp, all the different programs, the alphabet soup of acronyms and the different sub programs as well as the requirements to go back and look of the decisions we made and make recommendations say they were good, say they were bad and what we should do going forward, so it is almost a congressional race sanctioned monday morning quarterback role the was part of the agency, so that is how we operate on those fronts. we were a brand deutsch agency that didn't exist before i was one i

and t.a.r.p. related crime we were given jurisdiction which is primarily the reason i think i was so ready for the job as someone had a background as being a federal prosecutor. the second part of the mandate was brought and was just a generalized oversight transparency reporting function, so specifically we were given the authority to audit all things that happened under t.a.r.p. and reaction taken by treasury, but also the responsibility is to be tell everything that was going on at t.a.r.p., everything going on at sigtarp, all the different programs, the alphabet soup of acronyms and the different sub programs as well as the requirements to go back and look of the decisions we made and make recommendations say they were good, say they were bad and what we should do going forward, so it is almost a congressional race sanctioned monday morning quarterback role the was part of the agency, so that is how we operate on those fronts. we were a brand deutsch agency that didn't exist before i was one i

and t.a.r.p. related crime we were given jurisdiction which is primarily the reason i think i was so ready for the job as someone had a background as being a federal prosecutor. the second part of the mandate was brought and was just a generalized oversight transparency reporting function, so specifically we were given the authority to audit all things that happened under t.a.r.p. and reaction taken by treasury, but also the responsibility is to be tell everything that was going on at t.a.r.p., everything going on at sigtarp, all the different programs, the alphabet soup of acronyms and the different sub programs as well as the requirements to go back and look of the decisions we made and make recommendations say they were good, say they were bad and what we should do going forward, so it is almost a congressional race sanctioned monday morning quarterback role the was part of the agency, so that is how we operate on those fronts. we were a brand deutsch agency that didn't exist before i was one i

the t.a.r.p. the end of the bush administration was such an emergency measure that most everybody in washington did support it. as time went on, that became unpopular as, quote, the bailout. but the thing that began to crystallize everything was the stimulus package under president obama in his first months in office. the two republicans that were actually in congress at that time that were running for president actually voted against t.a.r.p. so it seems to me that we're going to be able to separate ourselves from that somewhat. but the main issue is how has the president done in the four years he's had to manage the economy? right now, it looks pretty bad for him. >> it's also, i might say, the polls show that the public is kind of tired of blaming george w. bush. they now believe the president has ownership of the economy. roland martin is with us now. isn't there something to be said for the major republican argument which is that government has gotten too large and it's inefficient and it nee

do you remember t.a.r.p., you had a vote in congress regardth bailout fund? congress voted that down and the stock market went south and there was panic. that was the sen air yoep i think we would see here if congress and the administration can't come together by august 2nd. >> panic. >> panic. >> gloria, the republicans ought to go back and read the letters coming from the reagan administration to the congress, you can't go into default, don't do this. >> it's a political issue comes up and the party in charge says you can't go into default. i remember barack obama when he was a united states senator by the way, did not vote to raise the debt ceiling. >> they are going to raise it. >> they will. >> short term. but i think the question to mark is, if they raise it short term, does that still leave uncertainty in the marketplace? >> it does. go ahead, quickly. >> go ahead, mark. >> it does. ideally, they would pass the debt ceiling to sufficient degree so we get to the other side of the election, but i mean, the second best is give us a least a couple more mon

today, whether we are going to do a baby but t.a.r.p. the $8 billion for the out banks this time but i thirank it's an outrage.s it's an outrage to make consumers across america pay this fee they paid every time they use their debit cards.ll and if theec merchants of retailers who collected have noi wish some of voice in this process. i wish some of the people who come to a this floor and should bas and c re copious tears over communityalre banks and credit unions aresh theyould already protected in this law i wish they would shed a few tears for the people who run the shops and businesses across america. the restaurants, hotels, these by t are the people being hit by these that card fees everymall busi single day. where is the sympathy for the small business on this floor? all over illinois and all over america.key if we really believe the key to the economic recovery is the street to the small businessca creating and expanding jobs don't across america why don't we stand up for them?his you can't vote at 2:00 for thisusines amendment a

we should not have had t.a.r.p. or the government bailout.y could have gone through a structured bankruptcy without the federal government. the federal government tipped to the cronies and the unions and gave the unions the company. if they went through the orderly bankruptcy process, they'd have the same place. only we have kept the integrity of the bankruptcy process without the government putting its fingers into it. >> quickly, please. >> john, i was in the middle of this debate. i was behind closed doors when secretary paulson made the extraordinary never before made request to congress, give us a $700 billion blank check with no strings attached. i fought behind closed doors against my own party on t.a.r.p. it was a wrong vote then. it's continued to be a wrong vote since then. sometimes that's what you have to do. you have to take principle over your party. >> let's continue the conversation. let go to jean in hancock. she has a question. >> thanks, john. this question goes out to speaker gingrich. next month the space shuttle program

you're a businessman that supported the t.a.r.p. program.ve become a trending topic on you said, quote, we needed to do something drastic because we were facing a very drastic situation. >> i studied the financial meltdown and concluded on my own that we needed to do something drastic, yes. when the concept of t.a.r.p. was first presented to the public, i was willing to go along with it. but then when the administration started to implement it on a discretionary basis, picking winners and losers and also, directing funds to general motors and others that had nothing to do with the financial system, that's where i totally disagreed. the government should not be selecting winners and losers and i don't believe in this concept of too big to fail. if they fail, the free market will figure out who's going to pick up the pieces. >> let's stay on this topic. t tom fahy has a question. >> thank you, john. i wanted to ask governor romney about the auto industry. general motors and chrysler have rebounded since the obama administration bailed them out

i need to refer to the t.a.r.p. moment. to parallel is not so much that.with the bankruptcy of lehmann brothers in 2008. no one knew what was going to but it turned out, allowing lehmann to go broke set off this dominos in the marketplace. right now the world market is worried about sovereign debt which is, are governments around the world able to pay their bills and get their budget in order. it's the biggest one. united states is not able to do it. we can see a crisis that makes 2008 look like kindergarten. >> but in the political realm, we're not just talking about the freshman tea party. we're talking about leadership. i don't think john boehner can sell a bill to eric cantor. >> there's no question eric cantor is very in tune to the republican base and a base that know this is something that will not fly with people in congress. >> let's move to presidential politics, obviously this is all wrapped up in all of that. earlier today. we showed the poll from the des moines register, we'll see it again with mitt romney and michele bachmann in a statistic d

. >> reporter: neal oversaw the t.a.r.p. program, the government bailout of the banks in 2008. >> it is an honor to testify. >> reporter: he's been critical of the treasury department for rescuing the banks and leaving homeowners high and dry. you are saying that the popular perception that the banks got off scott free and the homeowners are struggling and the government didn't do anything to help -- is true. >> it's what happened. and what the bailout was supposed to do and compared to what the results are and come to any other conclusion. >> reporter: for jeff and karen pryor, this is just terrible times. they've been renting in new jersey for ten years and have been waiting to buy a house for the past year and a half. they just can't quite pull the trigger. >> the one we nearly purchased it would potentially have been depreciated by 8%. >> reporter: and with all the talk of low, low home prices, they sense it's a buyer's market. >> it seems like a good time for us to buy. it's really a good time for our family to be looki

. >> i fought behind closed doors against my own party on t.a.r.p. it was a wrong vote then.t's continued to be a wrong vote. >> reporter: she's easily overshadowed competitors like tim pawlenty, all vying to challenge mitt romney. and today, former utah governor and president's obama former ambassador to china, jon huntsman said he's jumping in the contest. and hints that texas governor rick perry will run in a field getting a lot more crowded by the day, brian. >> we, again, have 17 more months of this to go. andrea, thanks as always. >>> the current president was making a little history today becoming the first sitting president to make an official trip to puerto rico in 50 years. but this trip may have less to do with making history there than nailing down votes back here on the mainland. kristen welker traveling with the president with us from san juan. good evening, kristen. >> reporter: good evening. president obama was welcomed with opened arms when he spoke at this airport hangar in san juan. some shed tears. the white house says this is a fulfillment of a campaign p

invested $12.5 billion with a b in t.a.r.p.oney as part of the forced bankruptcy, not only of chrysler, but gm. the sale announcement comes as president obama is visiting a plant in ohio today. he is expected to tout the success of the bailout, as well as saving american jobs. well, mr. president, we will wait and see for the jobs report coming out in a few hours' time. >>> a neighborhood grocer could get fresh competition from walmart. walmart is testing a small store format called walmart expressed, aimed at remote and urban areas without a nearby grocery store. the first prototype opens in arkansas and two others will open in chicago this summer. walmart expressed it's going to stock -- they say it's less, 13,000 items -- it's not a small store, but that's compared, of course, to the 100,000 items at a typical walmart super store. so they have a few things at walmart. i don't know if you've heard of it. >> oh, yeah, we love those big box stores, don't we? >> absolutely. you can find anything there, right? you can find like o

if we are to avoid another choice between a t.a.r.p.-like mechanism on the one hand or a collapse of the financial system on the other, we have to ensure they accurate loss of capacity and can sustain markets. in a global financial market, serious problems in any sector can spread sometimes very quickly. that's why it's important to negotiate good capital and liquidity requirements for all internationals. that's what basel iii was about. that's why it's important to understand the most systemically institutions around the world have additional capital buffer in light of the impact that their failure would have on the financial system. third point, there are a number of additional areas where there's need for more international cooperation. several of you mentioned derivatives, and i agree. fourth point, the one where i want to spend most of my time. the financial staibt benefits of basel iii and other reforms will be realized only if they are implemented rigorously across jurisdictions. leer i want to distinguish between implementation

go back to the t.a.r.p. vote. the house voted down the first time, the dow jones industrial dropped 770 points and four days later voted for it. the concern i have is that if we wait until their senate crisis in the treasury market they may undermine the goal standard the treasury occupied today and permanently increase the nation's borrowing cost. remember in every finance textbooks around the world, the u.s. treasury funds are more aligned times free financial the instrument. if we undermine that belief into the crisis people thought of the subpar securities were good now that belief is quaint and foolish people look back and think how quaint to think they can cut the u.s. government so it's a very dangerous game of roulette we are paying right now. >> he's got a lot of money, maybe not as much as you, i don't know, in an interview in "the wall street journal" let me turn over to michael. our cleaves says a treasury bond with a long term debt deal is worth more than a treasury bond that is not defaulted on but w

you can google t.a.r.p. and stockman. okay. but we got this bad leadership but what we don't hear about is that the current regulatory financial environment makes it difficult to do anything about bad leadership so insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds, and banks are simply not allowed to old more than a very small stake in a particular country. hedge funds are restricted that prevent them from having a controlling interest in the bank holding company. they have a stake on keepingian i did not on wayward market. they're going to get their salary. they might get their raise if they don't perceive it in time because they would be deprived of a good salary and we got to pay them more. maybe that's not the most promising model but because of this government policy, stockholders of these institutions are artificially disorganized and scattered and management enjoys artificial protection that it would not enjoy on a free market. okay. now a further point about this myth of government is that it causes us to lose our imagin

go back to the t.a.r.p. vote. the house voted down the first time, the dow jones industrial dropped 770 points and four days later voted for it. the concern i have is that if we wait until their senate crisis in the treasury market they may undermine the goal standard the treasury occupied today and permanently increase the nation's borrowing cost. remember in every finance textbooks around the world, the u.s. treasury funds are more aligned times free financial the instrument. if we undermine that belief into the crisis people thought of the subpar securities were good now that belief is quaint and foolish people look back and think how quaint to think they can cut the u.s. government so it's a very dangerous game of roulette we are paying right now. >> he's got a lot of money, maybe not as much as you, i don't know, in an interview in "the wall street journal" let me turn over to michael. our cleaves says a treasury bond with a long term debt deal is worth more than a treasury bond that is not defaulted on but w

there are plenty dysfunctional when we couldn't get the votes for t.a.r.p. the first time they were much more functioning it now than they are now. and we do have a problem in the public which is the are engaged whenever you talk about doing anything to social security or medicare. and when it comes to understanding what is in the budget when you have a public that believes 25% of the budget is foreign aid and we should cut to 10%, i tell my friends in the foreign aid community you should pop up and say we will go further, we will cut five or 10%. after colonel, i want to get back to -- its 1%. yeah. now, yeah, 0.7%. you know, we talked with great praise of the gang of five or six, and i get that as well, but we did have a bipartisan plan out there. i will give great credit. i don't want al simpson's hid to grow even more. he's already too tall. i would point out for the record that i appointed him or picked him to co-chair the commission and said the table years before that. but the fact is those house republicans had voted for that commission plan, it woul

we should not have had t.a.r.p. or the government bailout. they could have gone through a structured bankruptcy without the federal government. the federal government tipped to the cronies and the unions and gave the unions the company. if they went through the orderly bankruptcy process, they'd have the same place. only we have kept the integrity of the bankruptcy process without the governmenputting its fingers to it. >> quickly, please. >> john, i was in the middle of this debate. i was behind closed doors when secretary paulson made the extraordinary ner before made request to congress, give us a $700 billion blank check with no strings attached. i fought behind closed doors against my own party on t.a.r.p. it was a wrong vote then. it's continued to be a wrong vote since then. sometimes that's what you have to do. you have to take principle over your party. >> let's continue t conversation. let go to jean in hancock. she has a question. >> thanks, john. this question goes out to speaker gingrich. next month the space shuttle program is s

this economy, it became very fashionable for serconservativeo say they had spent too much money with t.a.r.p. and those things. now that we're looking at a positive setback in this economy, we're looking at more stimulus. diane just talked about ben bernanke. you're going to hear more from ben bernanke. what does this do about the public argument that we need to ease up on spending? >> it hurts it, ali, but let me say this, first of all. i am not an economist, but i think diane is having a mass understatement. employment, housing prices, investments, i would suggest to you are a symptom of a much greater problem, and you can boil this crisis down to one number, ali. the number is 350. that's the principle debt we have beyond gdp. every neighbor you have is sitting on a pile of debt and they can't go spend. that means most financial institutions are sitting on a pile of debt and can't loan money out. that means most companies can't invest in hire. what do you do? how do you grow out of this debt? everyone is talking like this is just your normal recession. >> it's not a normal recession. i ag

for conservatives to say that the administration had spent too much money, with the bailout, with t.a.r.p. and things like that. now that we are looking at a possible setback in this economy, we're actually discussing more government money. we're talking about more stimulus. diane just talked about ben bernanke. you're going to be hearing more from ben bernanke. what does this do to the republican argument that we need to ease up on spending? >> it hurts it, ali. i'm not an economist -- i would say this respectfully to diane. but i think she's guilty of a massive understatement. the economy is in more than a soft spot. all the red flags, unemployment, housing prices, investments, i would suggest to you are a symptom of a much greater problem. you can boil this crisis down to one number. that number is 350%. that's the percentage of debt we have above gdp. what does that mean specifically? that means basically every neighbor you have is sitting on a pile of debt and they can't go spend. that means most financial institutions are sitting on debt and can't lend money out. it means most compa

my first question is do you agree with the findings of the t.a.r.p. oversight panel, and was this is case where the lack of regulation harmed the economy and caused the nation to lose these millions of jobs? >> i'm in general agreement with that. >> okay. and in the view of president obama that increase of government -- that any increase in government rules and regulations, do they hurt the economy? >> depends on the rules and regulations. some do, some don't. >> well, and hopefully we learned our lesson, although sometimes we have to keep learning our lesson. we saw during the financial crisis targeting effective regulation provide important safeguards for our economy, and we hope we remember that government regulations can play an important role in protecting our country and our citizens, but also on the other hand, i see a lot of what i think are really silly regulations coming out and think, okay, how did they get to that point? i tell people, congress is the only stiewtionz known to man to turn an elephant into a giraffe. sometimes i think commit

april 2010 that the source of funds for these quarterly payments will be other t.a.r.p.unds currently held in escrow account. do you think that general motors' ad campaign and the statements made by the treasury department told the complete truth about these loans? >> congressman, i'm happy to answer questions about what the treasury department said. i indicate today you that we didn't make the general motors ad and whether we would have made it that way is something i can't comment on. i will tell you about what the treasury department -- >> just as an average guy who watches a lot of tv. no, no, no, this is really easy. >> i don't watch a lot of tv. >> you don't? well, i don't watch as much as i used to. >> nor i. >> but i've got to tell you, when i see this type of thing going on and we told the public general motors is working so hard and paying back the money, what we didn't tell them was they were using taxpayer money to make a statement they were actually paying off their loan. they, in fact, did not. i've got to tell you, i live that. i walked that walk, and i yo

it was not t.a.r.p., but the spread that did it. things are worse for competition out there, not better. let me leave you with one time thought. changing all of this is extraordinarily difficult. as i said, despite whatever hesitations we may have had about the way president obama addressed some of the issues, he has been trying desperately to push, maybe not hard enough, but to get us to a point with a new social contract and understanding of what the market should be. two books, i'm not here as a professor, but two books i recommend you read because for me when in college, they captured the difficulty of social change, and they are not often enough read and put on syllabi. first the the -- it describes how individuals respond to constitutions that have failed whether it's a political party, consumer products, exit voice and loyalty discusses the dynamic that attaches. the other book is the rise and decline of nations which is also essentially the, you know, e -- the equivalent of interest groups in society in leading to a palsific

>> i think history will treat bush with the t.a.r.p.cessary evils. maybe not 100% effective, but we would have been in much, much worse shape but for both of those. >> now let's go to the issue of the deficit which has been the focal part of so much of your group. the word is and i think the number you gave is $4.7 trillion over a ten-year period that you would try to cut from our long-term deficit projections. is that what you're shooting for? >> depending on the baseline, 4.5, 4.6, somewhere in that region. the question is, and i think there's an immediate sense of urgency. every day that we fail to act, we add $4 billion to the national debt. as a matter of fact, as we go back to that issue too where some of my colleagues who don't think dealing with the debt ceiling is important, if we have an interest rate spike, every point that the interest rate goes up, we add $1.3 trillion to our debt. >> you mentioned the bipartisan effort led by bowles-simpson, that is the basis of your recommendation from the gang of six. >> let's go ahead a

i thought t.a.r.p.stake because government is not in the business of deciding who the winners and losers are in the market place. it's the role of government to referee a game, not to pick a team and choose the outcome. t.a.r.p. was wrong. bailouts are nothing more than welfare for people who have collectively messed up in the same way that others didn't work out very well as individuals. and, folks, let's not be hypocritical and it's wrong at an individual level but it's okay if it's bailing out gm or chrysler or some other company that has failed to mapping itself probably. when i watch an sec football game i expect the guys in the striped shirts to do one thing and that's to make sure the play is fair for both sides, and when it isn't and the officials start calling it with favoritism toward one team against the other, i'm not real happy unless they're calling it for the razor backs. then it's okay. i'm going to leave the name of the team nameless put we were playing another sec at their homecoming a

clearly in violation of the requirement of t.a.r.p.. thousands of retirees have completely lost their futures. they will struggle to survive at or near the poverty level for the rest of their lives. they lost health care insurance results in many not being able to pay mortgages or put their kids through college. they have to compete for the same nonexistent jobs. she has to deal with several other issues, including a husband that's fighting a debilitating disease. she and others in the same situation. others have seen their homes foreclosured, had to declare personal bankruptcy, some have seen their families break up or worse. this is simply shameful. and it must be corrected. we need your help to bring true transparency for the issue to reveal the records of agreements that helped some but excluded others. we need your help to receive a fair settlement for the retirees, especially on the salary, who depended on our company and government to live up to the promises made. we're here because the administration believed we were too weak to

and that is during the bailout a lot of you remember there was a whole lot of debate about the t.a.r.p. which was, if my memory's correct, $700 billion dollars. and i voted against it, and it ended up passing it. .. >> they want to know which financial stietions got the money? where did it go? how did you get it? i was clever and said you have to be a totally unhonest person? is there an 800-number to call? [laughter] he said, no, i'm not going to tell you, and on that day, we introduced legislation to bring transparency, and manageed to get that provision in the reform bill, and a couple months ago, the gao did the work and did a good job and revealed where the $3 trillion went. needless to say every financial institution in the country got huge amounts of very, very low interest loans. what was also surprising, you'll all be delighted to know that at the same time as small businesses all over this country can't receive, are not able to find affordable loans, virtually every central bank in the world including arab central banks, korean central banks got a bailout as well as wealth fa

he didn't come here to take over and then be part of the t.a.r.p.program even though it didn't part of the last administration to basically have the involvement in banks that he had, but it was by virtue of the financial crisis that the american taxpayer stepped up and are still paying the price for basically a financially driven recession, deeper than anything but the great depression. it wasn't a result of manufacturing get in trouble, it was -- and i have been in financial service sector. it was much access in that industry, and lack of regulation. you know, there's another extreme here of, you know, the pendulum swings too far and in some people's mind, if you're a client of bernie madoff i think he probably felt that the regulars didn't do a very good job in overseeing that situation. and in the financial world, many people believe that the ability of regulators to understand this very complex and difficult changing -- most financial regulations were enacted closer to the civil war than they were to this period of the financial crisis. so it go

the t.a.r.p.sary and he voted for it as a senator, bend it came about under president bush, but i think the specific policies, such as stimulus, oba obamaca obamacare, the dodd-frank bill, stood in the way of job creation and during the health care thing we kept hearing how the president would pivot to jobs, pivot to jobs and the health care thing went on far too long and a lot of job creators said it will cost me more to hire. you talk about the aid to bailouts and to homeowners and a lot of economists think what that did, was effectively gum up the works of clearing the housing market, and you have people in their houses who cannot afford them and the same with the car buyers, you know, cash for clunkers, stimulated purchases in 2010 and slowed them down for 2011. and, so none over these things fixed what is wrong and they have thrown sugar into the bloodstream an given everybody a buzz but has not fixed anything. >> heather: a band aid on it. we talked about his chances for re-election. preside

that is what led to t.a.r.p.. no one wants another part.not those who supported it and not those of you who opposed. if we are to avoid another choice between a park like mechanism on the one hand or collapse of the financial system on the other we have to ensure financial firms have adequate loss absorption capacity and sustain stress in funding markets. second point, in a global financial market serious problems in any financial center can spread sometimes very quickly. that is why it is important to negotiate good liquidity requirements from all internationally active banks. that is what basel iii was about. that is why it is important to ensure the most systemically significant institutions around the world have an additional capital buffered in light of the impact their failure would have on the financial system. third point, in number of additional areas where there is need for more international cooperation. several of the mentioned derivatives and i agree. fourth point, this is where i want to spend most of my time. the financial st

utahans and the country would want and i disagree with him on the bulk ofer issues, everything from the t.a.r.p. to the fannie, freddie bailout, he was in favor of the individual mandates. i don't want to go through a leand try and rip on our senior senator, but in the same time -- stkpwhrao*eul stphraoe -- >> bill: do you think you can beat him? >> yes. he's a good man. he's a good man. bill: thank you, jason chaffetz. we talk a lot with you from washington, nice to see you in person. alisyn: coming up, a fight between the states and federal government over planned parenthood, the battle over indiana's tough new abortion law now goes to court. bill: also was the massive bailout of the auto industry truly a success? the white house says absolutely, but what about the long term effects? eric bolling will tackle eric bolling will tackle that in a moment here on "america's newsroom". bill: so the bear is 200 pounds and it takes a major tumble in colorado. the bear drawing a cloud after climbing 30 feet up in a tree! bring your camera and videocamera and still photos. wildlife officials used six tr

ongoing, causing pain and suffering to millions of americans that didn't get a bailout, that didn't get t.a.r.p., that didn't receive a stimulus. and here's another problem. the united states supreme court has not been particularly helpful with their citizens united decision last year in which they've given corporations a blank check to use their money in any way they want, as much of it, and without even revealing who gave it and who got it. and i'm worried about that. you didn't cause that. but, you know, you're going to be good citizens and go along with the federal courts. and i have no idea what you're going to do with the money, publicly or privately. as corporations in this country become larger and more consolidated and global, their influence is disproportionately large in the elections that are the base of an american democracy. now, over the last 15 years, 5,400 bank mergers occurred, including the mega mergers. that's where you come in. where each buyer and seller had more than $10 billion in assets. because of these mergers, the percentage of banking assets and deposits held by the

matter he didn't go to washington to rent a car company to come to take over and then be part of the t.a.r.p. program even though it had been done in the last administration that basically have the involvement banks that he had, but it was by virtue of the financial crisis that the american taxpayers stepped up and are still paying the price for basically financially driven recession deeper than anything but the great depression. it wasn't a result of manufacturing getting in trouble, and i had been -- i have been in a financial service sector. it was much excess in that industry and change and lack of regulation. there is another chain of the pendulum swings too far. in some people's mind if you are a client of bernie madoff you probably felt the regulators didn't to a good job of overseeing that situation, and in the financial world many people believe that of the ability of regulators to understand this very complex and difficult change most financial regulations were enacted closer to the civil war than this period in the financial crisis so it got out of whack. how to get the balance ri

from the t.a.r.p. oversight panel the concluded had regulators given adequate attention to any of one of the key areas of transparency in fairness we might have averted the worst aspect of the crisis. mr. sunstein, this oversight panel concluded the lack of regulation was a primary cause of financial crisis. my first question is do you agree with the findings of the oversight panel and is this a case where the lack of regulation harmed the economy and caused the nation to lose millions of jobs? >> in general agreement with that. >> the increase of government, any increase of government rules and regulations, do they hurt the economy? >> depends on the rules in the regulations. some do and some don't. >> hopefully we learned our lesson the we have to keep learning a lesson we saw during the financial crisis targeted effective regulations can provide and receive cards for the economy and we hope we remember the government regulations can play an important role in protecting the country and citizens but o

we've raised more than 300 billion of common equity while repaying t.a.r.p. with a $12 billion profit. the largest banks have significantly reduced their leverage and loan reserves have increased by over 200%. now i can go through a long list but you all know the list of dodd-frank actions which we're now trying to implement. sifma alone filed over 100 comments during this regulatory process. while we're working through the dodd-frank changes which significantly modify the banking activities in the united states, we're also faced with comparable changes in basel which we're trying to work through. one point i'd like to make that is important, i want to echo a comment made yesterday by the general counsel of the fdic, mr. kremenger which was also discussed this morning about the question of resolution of large systematicall systematically-important institutions certainly in the united states. we worked very hard with this committee to make sure that legislation was done in an appropriate fashion and we're hopeful that both in the united states and outside the

i am head of the oversight board t.a.r.p. so in that context i am kept well reform. the reserve is doing what it can. otherwise, i would like to seek further efforts first of all to modify loans where appropriate and where not appropriate to speed the process of foreclosure and the disposition of the foreclosed homes in order to clear the market. to get these homes out of the pipeline and allow people to operate in a market where they are more confident that prices will be stable rather than falling. it is interesting now. house prices are declining overall. all that is concentrated in distressed properties. houses which are not being sold on a distressed basis much have much more stable prices than those that are being sold under stress basis. if we can reduce the current number, maybe 40% of home sales which are on a distressed basis, that would do a lot to stabilizing the market and helping give people confidence they can buy and not be buying into a falling market. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> tonight, a house hearing on the fiscal health of

from the t.a.r.p. oversight panel the concluded had regulators given adequate attention to any of one of the key areas of transparency in fairness we might have averted the worst aspect of the crisis. mr. sunstein, this oversight panel concluded the lack of regulation was a primary cause of financial crisis. my first question is do you agree with the findings of the oversight panel and is this a case where the lack of regulation harmed the economy and caused the nation to lose millions of jobs? >> in general agreement with that. >> the increase of government, any increase of government rules and regulations, do they hurt the economy? >> depends on the rules in the regulations. some do and some don't. >> hopefully we learned our lesson the we have to keep learning a lesson we saw during the financial crisis targeted effective regulations can provide and receive cards for the economy and we hope we remember the government regulations can play an important role in protecting the country and citizens but o

today's hearing on the t.a.r.p. financial services and a bailout public and private programs subcommittee is entitled to the changing role of the fdic. we have before us the 19th chairman of the federal deposit insurance corporation, sheila bair who served honorably and drinks of the nation's toughest times and the tramp bair, we realize this is your last hearing before congress and to have had quite a career in the service to our government and to our people and i want to thank you for that. and through, you know, some of the most challenging times in the nation's history and you also served on capitol hill, and we appreciate your service their. what's that? well, we forgive you for that. serving on the senate side, but certainly understanding capitol hill as you, we thank you for your time, and it has been the tradition of this subcommittee to read the oversight government reform committee is mission statement. the oversight committee mission statement begins we exist to secure to fundamental principles first amer

today's hearing on the t.a.r.p. financial services and bailouts public and private programs subcommittee is entitled the changing role of the fdic. we have before us today the 19th chairman of the federal deposit insurance corp., sheila bair who has served honorably during some of our nation's toughest times and chairman bair we realize this is your last hearing before congress, and you have had quite a career in the service to our government and to our people and i want to thank you for that. and, it is through some of the most challenging times in our nations history and you have also served on capitol hill. we appreciate your service there. what's that? well, we forgive you for that. serving on the senate side, but certainly understanding capitol hill as you do, we thank you or your time. and, it has been the tradition of this subcommittee to read the oversight and government reform committee's mission statement. the oversight committee mission statement begins, we exist to secure to fundamental principles. first

from the t.a.r.p. oversight panel the concluded had regulators given adequate attention to any of one of the key areas of transparency in fairness we might have averted the worst aspect of the crisis. mr. sunstein, this oversight panel concluded the lack of regulation was a primary cause of financial crisis. my first question is do you agree with the findings of the oversight panel and is this a case where the lack of regulation harmed the economy and caused the nation to lose millions of jobs? >> in general agreement with that. >> the increase of government, any increase of government rules and regulations, do they hurt the economy? >> depends on the rules in the regulations. some do and some don't. >> hopefully we learned our lesson the we have to keep learning a lesson we saw during the financial crisis targeted effective regulations can provide and receive cards for the economy and we hope we remember the government regulations can play an important role in protecting the country and citizens but o

ongoing, causing pain and suffering to millions of americans that didn't get a bailout, that didn't get t.a.r.p., that didn't receive a stimulus. and here's another problem. the united states supreme court has not been particularly helpful with their citizens united decision last year in which they've given corporations a blank check to use their money in any way they want, as much of it, and without even revealing who gave it and who got it. and i'm worried about that. you didn't cause that. but, you know, you're going to be good citizens and go along with the federal courts. and i have no idea what you're going to do with the money, publicly or privately. as corporations in this country become larger and more consolidated and global, their influence is disproportionately large in the elections that are the base of an american democracy. now, over the last 15 years, 5,400 bank mergers occurred, including the mega mergers. that's where you come in. where each buyer and seller had more than $10 billion in assets. because of these mergers, the percentage of banking assets and deposits held by the