Perhaps the Warren report’s starkest expression of frustration with Treasury’s lack of information comes in the executive summary:
The Panel’s initial concerns about the TARP have only grown, exacerbated by the shifting explanations of its purposes and the tools used by Treasury. It is not enough to say that the goal is the stabilization of the financial markets and the broader economy. That goal is widely accepted. The question is how the infusion of billions of dollars to an insurance conglomerate or a credit card company advances both the goal of financial stability and the well-being of taxpayers, including homeowners threatened by foreclosure, people losing their jobs, and families unable to pay their credit cards. It would be constructive for Treasury to clearly identify the types of institutions it believes fall under the purview of EESA and which do not and the appropriate uses of TARP funds. The need for Treasury to address these fundamental issues of strategy has only intensified since our last report.
Later in the report, a similar theme is picked up:
While Treasury’s letter provided responses to some of the Panel’s questions and shed some light on Treasury’s decision-making process, it did not provide complete answers to several of the questions and failed to address some of the questions at all.