Let’s hear it for the acronyms, especially now that we’ve graduated to four letters; Forget CDS, CDO and SIV - it’s time to talk TARP. Yes folks, it’s the Troubled Asset Relief Program , or as we like to say here on FT Alphaville, the Mother of All Bail-outs. WHO IS REALLY GETTING THE HELP HERE? Here’s a quick crib to the MOAB: What?: According to Bank of America, the goal of the program “is to preclude or at least postpone systematic failures in financial institutions.” The Treasury’s description is slightly more long-winded: “This program is intended to fundamentally and comprehensively address the root cause of our financial system’s stresses by removing distressed assets from the financial system” Come again?: The US Treasury, through this MOAB, will buy up to $700bn in assets, financed by an equivalent issuance of government bonds and defined as “residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages...
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