Provides a ready reference on what TARP is and how it has been used, at least for the first $350 billion authorized as of January 23, 2009. The goal is to advance economic stability through transparency, coordinated oversight, and robust enforcement.

This is the eighth report assessing the Troubled Asset Relief Program's (TARP) impact over the last year. Specifically, it addresses: (1) the evolution of TARP's strategy and the status of TARP programs as of September 25, 2009; (2) the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) progress in creating an effective management structure, including hiring for the Office of Financial Stability (OFS), overseeing contractors, and establishing a comprehensive system of internal control; and (3) indicators of TARP's performance that could help Treasury decide whether to extend the program. The author reviewed relevant documentation and met with officials from OFS, contractors, and financial regulators. Charts and tables.

In the fall of 2008, America suffered a devastating economic collapse. Once valuable securities lost most or all of their value, debt markets froze, stock markets plunged, and storied financial firms went under. Millions of Americans lost their jobs; millions of families lost their homes; and good businesses shut down. These events cast the United States into an economic recession so deep that the country has yet to fully recover. This Report is the product of a two-year bipartisan investigation by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into the origins of the 2008 financial crisis. The goals of this investigation were to construct a public record of the facts in order to deepen the understanding of what happened; identify some of the root causes of the crisis; and provide a factual foundation for the ongoing effort to fortify the country against the recurrence of a similar crisis in the future.