Your $700 Billion at Play

An AP story this morning carries the judgement of a gummint inspector on the TARP program. You may know it better as the Big Boy Bailout.

Watchdog Neil Barofsky says the TARP program sorta worked but, "Treasury's actions in this regard have contributed to damage the credibility of the program and of the government itself, and the anger, cynicism and distrust created must be chalked up as one of the substantial, albeit unnecessary, costs of TARP."

Hold that thought as you continue:

Then he noted the "decision not to require banks to report how they used their rescue money and (the Fed's) 'less-than-accurate' statements describing the financial condition of nine large banks that benefited from large infusions of aid."

I don't quarrel with either Barofsky or the AP report, though they're really telling us nothing new in the first cited paragraph which says, "We're all well and truly pissed" or in the second which says "Because when dealing with the feds you can have them stupid or you can have them crooked. Take your pick."

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Deeper in the story there are some enticing hints on how much of your TARP money is being used for kennel fees, Dom Perignon, tux rental and so forth.

Shop tip

When you're tidying up your shop and stumble across an old tooled leather belt worth restoring and saving, be sure you do not use Gorilla Glue just because it is in a little bottle quite similar to the one where you keep your neatsfoot oil.

Fun Show AAR

The show was worth the drive to Mankato even if we bought little. The ratio of plastic gun-like things to real stuff was about the same as any other Midwest show, but there was a satisfying number of tables with steel and walnut and more parts than we're used to seeing. I scored GI 1911 parts -- two grip safeties, a hammer, and a mainspring for $15.

The gun prices were astoundingly high, and JohnW may grin at hearing that a Model 99 in .300 Savage and of no distinction whatsoever was offered at $1,350.

There were other adventures in weekend spending. At a neighborhood auction yesterday I paid a little too much for a c. 1900 Hopkins and Allen .22 bolt rifle, an odd design, tube fed but requiring manual cocking after chambering a round. The real coup was theft of a good knipco-style heater which will make winter shop work toasty pleasant.

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"Mankato" tickle your memory? There, on Boxing Day of 1862, our forefathers staged the largest mass hanging in our history. Thirty-eight mostly Sioux men were strung up for being on the losing side in Little Crow's war.

Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer; side note

Just for anyone who happens to be new to the study of this, the disdain apparent in the two preceding posts is based on a couple of things. This guy divided his force twice before knowing what he was facing -- or the terrain in which he was operating.

And while Marie Sandoz may go too far, Custer did have visions of being nominated by acclamation after wiring news of his glorious victory to his political backers at the Democratic Convention in St. Louis.

Custer's complete tactical failure in a situation an experienced company grade officer could have been expected to handle competently is apparent from reading the published histories, but to really get a feel for it you need to walk the land.