Obama prepares to slash costs of its taxpayer bailout
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama is set to slash the long-term cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) by $200bn (£164bn), and will use the savings to create jobs.
The White House will unveil its latest official projection this week, slashing the eventual cost of Tarp to $141bn. It will propose using the extra funds to pay for a jobs package.
Obama is expected to recommend pumping the money into bridge and road building projects, and giving aid to smaller firms and the unemployed.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury singled out banks that got bailout money as particularly strong performers in terms of producing dividends and repaying the funds they received.
“Total bank investments of $245bn in 2009 the US tax year that ended September 30 that were initially projected to cost $76bn are now projected to bring a profit of $19bn,” the official said.
Congress approved the Tarp programme when the financial crisis was raging last year so that the government could inject money into ailing banks and keep them from dragging the whole financial system down.