Dammit, I Want My TARP Mansion Too

Lots of folks have been asking just what our bankers have been doing with their $ Gazillions of TARP funds. Looks like the L.A. times has found the answer, with some help from vigilant neighbors in a tony beach side housing development.

Apparently, our Government's TARP funds have allowed banks to hold onto properties for their Executives to use as party shacks. Don't trust me on this one, ask Wells Fargo Senior VP Cheronda Guyton, I'm sure she'll be glad to talk to you, unless you're one of the poor saps fighting to save your home from a usurious Wells Fargo loan. You can visit our dear friend Cheronda at her LinkedIn page. She must be lonely, she only has three contacts.

I am really bugged by the several repossessed houses in my neighborhood that the vampire bankers haven't put on the market. Sometimes it feels like they want to see these undead houses (their property) slowly rot from poor upkeep. I could see keeping a house off the market to have a personal party shack, but no Bank VP would be caught dead partying in my neighborhood.

I understand the overly permissive and screwy accounting practices that allow banks to forestall losses by keeping houses unoccupied. Once a house is put up for sale, the value of the house must be written down to a market value, that's what you could sell the house for right now. However, current American accounting standards allow the bank to value the house above market value if the house is not currently on the market.

That's what I call CPA, Crazy Postmodern Accounting.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.