The bailout formerly known as TARP
Posted by: Emily Kaiser
It seems like only yesterday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was up on Capitol Hill, asking Congress for a mere $700 billion to buy bad assets that were clogging up lending. The so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program isn’t buying troubled assets, but the TARP acronym lives on.
Until now. Thanks to Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital,
“Given that TARP is no longer an appropriate acronym, I propose to start a contest to rename the program,” Stanley said. “My submission is BEAST. Bail out Everyone And Sink the Taxpayer. Unfortunately, there are no prizes in this contest, but feel free to play.”
Send us your best ideas and we’ll be glad to forward them along.
