TARP

• Yesterday, over 70 “good government” advocacy organizations sent a letter to Congress demanding more bailout transparency. The groups include an interesting mix of non-partisan, progressive & conservative groups.

• Today, POGO provides a simple break down of Sen McCaskill, very important Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008 (SIGTARP) bill with clarifies the Neil Barofsky’s powers and authority to provide TARP oversight.

• Yesterday the Economist View identified contra-dictory recommendation to banks from the Federal Reserve but Baseline Scenario thinks we should give the Fed some slack.

Auto Industry

• The AP reports that a deal to spend $15 billion on emergency loans for struggling U.S. automakers could see a House vote Wednesday and be enacted by week’s end.

• Today Robert Reich argues that Congress can bypass concerns about irresponsible corporations (a.k.a. the moral hazard argument) if they require automaker stakeholders to provide $2 from every $1 of taxpayer money received. Reich also persists that the Treasury should halt all Wall Street bailouts because of its inability to move credit markets and basic inequities.

Housing

• In yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Chairman Waxman asked Freddie Mac’s former CEO, Richard Syron, why he fired the top credit-risk officer after he recommended that the company stop purchasing loans with no income or asset requirements.  Fannie Mae also faced fierce questioning about why they ignored a 2005 internal PowerPoint presentation that recommended sticking with safe but lower earning markets rather than play the volatile subprime market.

• Yesterday Robert Reich asked if the (non)effort to help distressed homeowners may court a populist backlash.

Markets

• Phil Mattera explains that the labor dispute at Chicago’s Republic Windows & Doors is an example of how enforcement of labor laws, union advocacy, worker activism are key to winning clean energy jobs.

• For the first time ever, the Treasury sold four-week T-bills at an interest rate of zero percent, adding additional pressure to the frozen credit market.

• Charles Schwab advocates overturning the FEC’s 2007 repeal of a Great Depression era trading rule intended to eliminate short sale manipulation.

For Fun

• Guess who said it: Rod Blagojevich or Tony Soprano?

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