TARP Me Up

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Quick --- By a show of hands:
How many people know what TARP means?

It’s been hard to miss, but just in case you did TARP is the acronym for Troubled Assets Relief Program and was created by the US government to bailout the ailing financial services firms before the Presidential elections of 2008. Pioneered by Secretary of the Treasury Hammerin’ Hank Paulson.

imageThe more I hear about TARP I get this flashback to The Rolling Stones song “Start me Up” in my head I can envision bank and insurance executives signing along with both hands out waiting for their TARP handout.

Timely, Temporary, and Targeted

These are the three T’s I keep hearing a lot of politicians mention. In particular Nanci Pelosi in this speech on 29 January 2009. She’s not the only one that is using these terms. You will hear them on CNN, Fox News, and from other politicians from both sides of the aisle.

The more I hear from politicians and the more I hear about the pork barrel spending I would like our elected officials to consider a few points before allocating more funds (i.e. More of our dollars).

My three points for our elected officials. They should be thinking about THEIR:

  • People --- not their pocket book
  • Constituents --- not their cronies
  • Country -- not their consigliere's

My simple request. Do something AND do the right thing. The right thing for your people, your constituents and ultimately for your country.

What are the SMART goals for TARP?

As a call to action I would love to see a set of SMART goals created and followed for TARP funds. Yes, there will be changes along the way and plans will need to be shifted. That’s fine. Just keep the points above in mind and do the right thing for your people, your constituents and your country.

What do you think? Am I completely off base here?

Comments welcomed. Please drop me a line here as a comment of contact me via Twitter, e-mail or Facebook.

clip_image002 About The Author:
I have spent the better part of the last 16 years working in various aspects of the ECM space. I spent time at Kofax, Microsoft, FileNet, K2, and most recently Captaris (which was acquired by Open Text in Nov 2008). Prior to that I was a Unix VAR running my own company. Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook or LinkedIn.

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