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Bailout
An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street
Table of Contents
About The Book
In this riveting account of the mishandling of the TARP bailout fund, a former federal prosecutor offers behind-the-scenes proof of the corrupt ways Washington officials serve the interests of Wall Street.
In this bracing, page-turning account of his stranger-than-fiction baptism into the corrupted ways of Washington, Neil Barofsky offers an irrefutable insider indictment of the mishandling of the $700 billion TARP bailout fund. During the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Barofsky gave up his job in the esteemed US Attorney’s Office in New York City to become the special inspector general overseeing the spending of the bailout money. But from day one his efforts to protect against fraud and to hold the big banks accountable were met with outright hostility from Treasury officials. Bailout is a riveting account of Barofsky’s plunge into the political meat grinder of Washington, and a vital revelation of just how captured by Wall Street our political system is and why the banks have only become bigger and more dangerous in the wake of the crisis.
About The Author
Photograph © John Earle
Neil Barofsky served as the Special Inspector General in charge of overseeing TARP from December 2008 until March 2011. For eight years prior, he was a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, during which time he headed the Mortgage Fraud Group. Currently, Neil Barofsky is a senior fellow at New York University School of Law. An alum of the University of Pennsylvania and the New York University School of Law, this is his first book.
Product Details
- Publisher: Free Press (July 24, 2012)
- Length: 288 pages
- ISBN13: 9781451684940
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Raves and Reviews
"Witty and entertaining...you've gotta get this. It's unbelievable."
– Jon Stewart, The Daily Show
"[Neil Barofsky is] a born writer…. Bailout is a kind of Alice in Wonderland tale of an ordinary, sane person disappearing down into a realm of hallucinatory dysfunction, with Tim Geithner playing the role of the Mad Hatter and Barofsky the increasingly frustrated Alice who realizes he's stuck at the stupidest tea party he ever was at… wry… morbidly funny… one of the best."
– Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
“Bailout is a jaw-dropping play-by-play of how the Treasury Department bungled the financial bailouts… With a prosecutor's logic and copious footnotes, Barofsky makes it clear things are rarely what they seem in Washington.”
– USA Today
“[Bailout] is an interesting behind-the-scenes account of how Washington tried to save the economy… [and] an enjoyable tale of how a prosecutor of Colombian drug gangs got drafted for the thankless task of policing a $700 billion bailout from a dank basement office of the Treasury.”
– Fortune
“[An] everyman account of the pervasive cynicism and insider-dealing of the D.C. establishment.”
– The American Spectator
“[One] of our favorite business books so far this year…The former special inspector general policing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program lifts the lid on the U.S. Treasury and settles scores… [an] illuminating memoir.”
– Bloomberg Businessweek
“A damning indictment of the Obama administration's execution of the TARP program.”
– Washington Examiner
“A quick, intense, read.”
– Business Insider
“[Barofsky] set out to account for the TARP spending in a transparent, nonpartisan manner. However, as he demonstrates in his energetically written first-person account, he and his staff met resistance every time they tried to share the truth with Congress, the White House and the American public… a courageous, insightful book that offers no cause for optimism.”
– Kirkus (starred review)
“Blistering in its assessment of the Treasury Department's handling of the bailouts.”
– Huffington Post
“In his scathing new book, Barofsky says taxpayers got shafted while the rich got richer… a true expose…. Taxpayers who feel helpless in the midst of the extended economic recession are likely to feel energized to metaphorically blow up the system after reading Barofsky’s account.”
– St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“[An] explosive account of the mishandling of the Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.”
– Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“[Barofsky] unleashes a blistering attack on President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department and its management of government bailout programs.”
– Politico
“In Bailout, [Barofsky] gives a detailed account of just how far-reaching, and how much, the corruption spread.”
– Publishers Weekly
"Best book about the financial crisis yet"
– Peter Osnos, The Atlantic
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Bailout eBook 9781451684940
- Author Photo (jpg): Neil Barofsky Photograph © John Earle(0.1 MB)
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