TARP: A Loan Not a Gift


 

Publication Date: May 2010

Publisher: National Center for Policy Analysis (U.S.)

Author(s): Robert McTeer

Research Area: Trade

Keywords: tarp

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

In October 2008 Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The act created a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) aimed at preventing a meltdown of the banking system. Some TARP funds were subsequently used for purposes outside the financial industry, but most were used to purchase preferred stock in banks to shore up bank capital as a buffer against bad assets.