When Congress passed the $700 billion "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP) at the apex of our financial crisis in October 2008, the original plan was for the government to buy toxic real estate assets from US banks with the funds.  Within a month, the Treasury Department changed course and announced the $700 billion would instead be injected directly into businesses in the financial sector.  Last week the Obama administration announced that the cost of the rescue plan has dropped to $141 billion as many of the struggling firms from just 14 months ago continue to pay back billions of dollars to Uncle Sam (source: Treasury Department).  

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, oftentimes relegated to the role of "national economic cheerleader" during the last year, was cautiously optimistic during a speech in Washington last Monday.  Bernanke said the US economy will continue to face "formidable headwinds" in 2010, specifically a high national unemployment rate and slow consumer spending (source: Federal Reserve). 

Don't look for the Senate to complete discussions in the near term on legislation similar to that passed by the House last Friday that would restructure the oversight of the financial industry.  Even though Wall Street has become the poster-child for "everything wrong in the economy" in the eyes of many Americans, the Senate may be just too busy with health care reform in the short run to dedicate time to this issue until March 2010 (source: Senate).