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Trump, Inc.

What To Look Out For

Trump, Inc.

WNYC Studios

Don, Trump, News, Business, Jared, Ivanka, Jr, Politics, Business News, Government, Eric

4.65.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The “Trump, Inc.” podcast has long explored how people have tried to benefit through their proximity to the Oval Office. And we're going to continue digging into that as the Trump administration is tasked with rolling out more than $2 trillion in bailout money.   We spoke to two people this week to help us understand the stakes. “Some policymakers sitting in the Treasury Department or some other government agency have this awesome power to say, ‘You get the money, you go out of business,.’” said Neil Barofsky, who served as the government’s watchdog for the 2008 bank bailout. “One of the most important things we can do is make sure that power is exercised fairly, consistently, and, most importantly, consistent with the policy goals that underlie this extraordinary outpouring of taxpayer money.”  We also spoke with journalist Sarah Chayes, a former NPR correspondent who has reported on corruption and cronyism in countries experiencing economic shock. She said powerful players often “take advantage of adversity and uncertainty to enrich themselves.”  But Chayes also described something else. She coined it “disaster solidarity.” That’s when there’s so much suffering, so much adversity, “that people's tolerance for selfish, hogging, me-first behavior is really low.”  And that’s where you come in. We want your help to dig into the coming bailout. If you know something, please tell us. Sign up for email updates from Trump, Inc. for the latest on WNYC and ProPublica's investigations.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Before we begin a programming note, like basically everyone else, we're social distancing

0:06.4

and we're figuring things out.

0:08.3

That means the show will sound a little different today.

0:11.0

We're recording and producing it from our homes and it'll also come out on a slightly

0:15.3

different schedule.

0:16.7

For the latest, keep an eye on your podcast feed or sign up for our newsletter at trumpincpodcast.org.

0:27.3

There's this awesome power the government has.

0:30.5

It has the ability to truly pick winners and losers.

0:35.4

Some policy makers sitting in the Treasury Department or some other government agency has

0:40.0

this awesome power to say, you get the money, you go out of business.

0:45.5

One of the most important things we can do is make sure that power is exercised fairly,

0:51.3

consistently and most importantly, consistent with the policy goals that underlie this

0:58.8

extraordinary outpouring of taxpayer money.

1:03.4

This is Neil Barovsky.

1:05.6

More than a decade ago, at the peak of the last financial crisis, Barovsky was given an

1:10.5

enormous job.

1:12.2

Top watchdog for the government's $700 billion bailout, known as the Troubled Asset Relief

1:18.4

Program, or TARP.

1:20.4

And so what that means is we can't have corruption.

1:24.0

And when I'm saying corruption, I'm not just talking about bags of cash being delivered

1:29.3

to award a bailout program.

1:31.3

I'm talking about the more insidious type that is in Washington every day, the corruption

...

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