Kashkari Apologizes To Taxpayers For Taking Their Money

In prepared testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform panel, TARP head honcho Neel Kashkari says he is sorry to have had to steal from taxpayers to save his appointee's former employer, but says it just had to happen otherwise, said employer would likely have to shutter (j/k) and taxpayers would be even worse off than if they were not all doomed to hyperinflation in the next 2-10 years.

Treasury has unfortunately had to step in to stabilize several large institutions whose failures would pose a systemic risk.

We are sure Goldman et al lament this unfortunate series of events as well.

We regretted having to take those actions -- to put so many taxpayer dollars at risk to support firms that had made bad decisions. But the choice was clear when the consequences of inaction were so severe -- and the potential cost to taxpayers of inaction so much greater than the cost of intervention.

In tried fashion, let's scare the bejesus out of taxpayers with fears of the imminent systemic collapse (the free and efficient market resolving stuff on its own is such a non-Marxist idea that it obviously never occurred to anyone) and the vague concern of what may or may not be a smaller cost several years from now. Of course, if and when (hyper)inflation does kick in, the discount rate of the trillions of dollars in "cost" down the line, will be 0 or close to it when calculated on a net present value basis. Win win.