Thank You, Mr. Ackerman

It took two and a half hours, short before the conclusion of the morning session of the House Financial Services Committee hearing today, for a member of the panel to ask the eight assembled bankers to provide a detailed accounting of what they've done with all that TARP money.

Gary Ackerman of Queens, who usually excels at banging his fist, made the request just as I suspect pretty much everyone watching this lackluster hearing was beginning to nod off.

That will make interesting reading. Thanks for asking, Mr Ackerman.

The hearing resumes at 1:15 p.m. Perhaps we can get less grandstanding, fewer inquiries on the significiant but off-topic issue of credit cards (a subject near to my heart, believe me) and more on TARP, more on lending, more on other central issues.

© 2009 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.