Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Candid Take on the Foreclosure Crisis

An excerpt from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s book, A Fighting Chance, recalls an encounter between Senator Warren and Secretary Geithner at a Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) oversight hearing. Senator Warren was unhappy with the reach of the Treasury Department’s foreclosure relief program. “There it was: The Treasury foreclosure program was intended to foam the runway to protect against a crash landing by the banks. Millions of people were getting tossed out on the street, but the secretary of the Treasury believed the government’s most important job was to provide a soft landing for the tender fannies of the banks.”

The excerpt also details what Senator Warren perceives as hypocrisy in the treatment of bankers and homeowners at the time of the crisis, and more on the differences of opinion between the Treasury Department and the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP program.