This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act that authorized TARP on Oct. 3, 2008, requires a report at least every 60 days on findings resulting from oversight of the status of actions taken under the program. This statement is based on the 5th mandated report, issued on June 17, 2009, which follows up on the previous recommendations and covers the actions taken as part of TARP through June 12, 2009. Specifically, this statement focuses on: (1) the nature and purpose of activities that have been initiated under TARP, including repurchases of preferred shares and warrants; (2) Treasury¿s efforts to establish a management structure for TARP; and (3) outcomes measured by indicators of TARP¿s performance. Charts and tables.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) has the authority to purchase and insure up to $700 billion in troubled assets held by financial institutions. This authority was granted in response to the financial crisis that has threatened the stability of the U.S. banking system and the solvency of numerous financial institutions. This testimony is based on a Jan. 30, 2009 report that covers the actions taken as part of TARP through Jan. 23, 2009. It focuses on: (1) the nature and purpose of activities that have been initiated under TARP as of Jan. 23, 2009; (2) the status of the transition to the new admin. at OFS and its hiring efforts, use of contractors, and dev¿t. of a system of internal control; and (3) preliminary indicators of TARP's performance.

Discusses the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), under which the Dept. of the Treasury has the authority to purchase and insure up to $700 billion in troubled assets held by financial institutions. The Act that authorized TARP on Oct. 3, 2008, requires a report at least every 60 days on findings resulting from oversight of the actions taken under TARP. This testimony is based primarily on a Jan. 30, 2009 report, the second under the act's mandate, which covers the actions taken as part of TARP through Jan. 23, 2009, and follows up on the 9 recommendations made in a Dec. 2, 2008 report. This testimony also provides additional information on some recent developments related to TARP, including Treasury's new financial stability plan. Tables.

Governments fail to provide the public goods needed for development when its leaders knowingly and deliberately ignore sound technical advice or are unable to follow it, despite the best of intentions, because of political constraints. This report focuses on two forces—citizen engagement and transparency—that hold the key to solving government failures by shaping how political markets function. Citizens are not only queueing at voting booths, but are also taking to the streets and using diverse media to pressure, sanction and select the leaders who wield power within government, including by entering as contenders for leadership. This political engagement can function in highly nuanced ways within the same formal institutional context and across the political spectrum, from autocracies to democracies. Unhealthy political engagement, when leaders are selected and sanctioned on the basis of their provision of private benefits rather than public goods, gives rise to government failures. The solutions to these failures lie in fostering healthy political engagement within any institutional context, and not in circumventing or suppressing it. Transparency, which is citizen access to publicly available information about the actions of those in government, and the consequences of these actions, can play a crucial role by nourishing political engagement.

Transparency in government operations is widely regarded as an important precondition for macroeconomic fiscal sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude. Notably, the Interim Committee, at its April and September 1996 meetings, stressed the need for greater fiscal transparency. Prompted by these concerns, this paper represents a first attempt to address many of the aspects of transparency in government operations. It provides an overview of major issues in fiscal transparency and examines the IMF's role in promoting transparency in government operations.

This is a GAO Acting Comptroller General presentation delivered to the 2009 AGA Southeast Region Professional Development Conference in Nashville, TN, on April 2, 2009. Major topics of this presentation include: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; financial institutions and markets; outdated regulatory system; assisting the new administration and the new congress with transition, and long-term fiscal challenge. Illustrations.

This is a GAO Acting Comptroller General presentation given before the Women's Philanthropy Board 7th Annual Spring Symposium at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama on April 6, 2009. Major topics of this presentation include: GAO's mission to support Congress and improve government, financial markets and economic recovery; GAO's framework for crafting and assessing regulatory reform proposals; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; assisting the new administration and the new Congress, and other urgent issues. Illustrations.