Now that it's considered cool to work for the federal government again, I was engaging in one of my routine job searches on USAJobs.gov. If you're not familiar with the website, you have to select a geographic location and then select a job search category. A query of Washington, DC metro area legal and claims examining jobs revealed this posting.
The job announcement reads in pertinent part:
MAJOR DUTIES:
Investigative counsel and staff will work with a team of attorneys and in conjunction with finance experts and economists to investigate all aspects of the U.S. Department of Treasury's TARP activities, including the use of TARP funds, the impact of TARP on financial institutions and markets, the transparency and fairness of the Treasury Department's administration of TARP, and the effectiveness of foreclosure mitigation efforts. Job responsibilities will include preparing for hearings on TARP operations, staffing Panel members, reviewing administrative agency information, conducting interviews with agency personnel, consultation with policy experts, and preparation of reports.
As an aside, I find it odd to see this job posting on USAJobs. Such positions are usually advertised on the Senate's employment website.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), or more popularly known as the bank bailout, has come under recent scrutiny for not providing the help to consumers that Congress expected. On 1/16/09 the Treasury Dept. asked for more information from 20 banks as to how they are using TARP funds:
Citigroup and Bank of America said they planned to comply with all government reporting requirements.
The Treasury asked banks for data that covered October through December in their first submission. It is due by January 31.
FORMER President Bush last year told us that we needed to act quickly to bail-out the banks or else. Where did all that money go? It would have been nice if Congress and the FORMER President had used half the effort to oversee the auto bail-out that they used with TARP.
Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod promised a "strong message" for banks who accepted government funds.
He said Obama's team will be discussing administration of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the days after Tuesday's inauguration of Obama.
"First of all, the point is to get credit flowing to businesses and to families across the country. That hasn't happened with the expenditure of the first $350 billion," of the TARP financial bailout fund, Axelrod said.
In addition, the administration of the program needs to be changed to make sure the use of the money is more transparent. "No one can really tell you where the money went how it was spent. ... We have to deal with that."
"We have to make sure the money doesn't go to excessive CEO pay and dividends when it should be going to lending," Axelrod told ABC.
So it seems that the Obama administration and Democrats in the Senate are finally ready to hold the banks accountable. Hopefully we'll finally find out where the TARP funds went. I doubt taxpayers are going to be happy and Congress should be embarassed that they gave the banks carte blanche to spend our money.
The job summary above states that the employer seeks:
...experienced attorneys or otherwise qualified professionals to work on the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel created by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to oversee the implementation of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
The position seeks any qualified professional which I'm sure would also include CPA's, economists, MBA's, et al. I'm sure competition for this job will be keen especially with so many people being laid-off. But now that Obama is President working for the federal government will bring a new source of pride that you are helping to advance a worthy agenda.
I'm sure Kossacks are not immune from the lay-offs caused by the current recession so we may as well apply, it's no problem to email a resume. Though I'm still waiting to hear back from the President from when I applied on Change.gov. It was only 2 months ago when I applied, he'll call any day now!!