Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced today that he had abandoned plan for his Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), his plan to buy bad assets from banks and other financial institutions. This was the bailout that Mr. Paulson said was absolutely essential for the economy's survival back in September. The opponents of the TARP were widely derided in the media as ignorant economic know nothings. Now that Mr. Paulson has himself decided that the TARP is not a good idea (for which he deserves credit), why isn't the media doing some examination of this recent history? Obviously his claims about the necessity of the TARP were not accurate, and those who repeated them were mistaken. There were many members of Congress who stuck their necks out to oppose the TARP at the cost of derision from the media and political elites. Even Secretary Paulson now acknowledges that the rescue plan that he presented to Congress was the wrong course of action. The media has an obligation to present these facts clearly to the public.
--Dean Baker
