Donald L. Barlett

Donald L. Barlett (July 17, 1936 – October 5, 2024) was an American investigative journalist and author who often collaborated with James B. Steele. Quotes Last October, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, putting $700 billion into the hands of the Treasury Department to bail out the nation’s banks at a moment of vanishing credit and peak financial panic. Over the next three months, Treasury poured nearly $239 billion into 296 of the nation’s 8,000 banks. The money went to big banks. It went to small banks. It went to banks that desperately wanted the money. It went to banks that didn’t want the money at all but had been ordered by Treasury to take it anyway. It went to banks that were quite happy to accept the windfall, and used the money simply to buy other banks. Some banks received as much as $45 billion, others as little as $1.5 million. Sixty-seven percent went to eight institutions; 33 percent went to the rest. And that was just the money that went to banks. Tens of billions more went to other companies...But once the money left the building, the government lost all track of it. The Treasury Department knew where it had sent the money, but nothing about what was done with it. Did the money aid the recovery? Was it spent for the purposes Congress intended? Did it save banks from collapse? Paulson’s Treasury Department had no idea, and didn’t seem to care. It never required the banks to explain what they did with this unprecedented infusion of capital. Where has the Bailout Money Gone? Good Billions After Bad, 27 September 2009, co-writen with with James B. Steele, Vanity Fair External links Don Barlett and Jim Steele's website Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism Terry Gross's interview about gambling on reservations with Barlett & Steele on NPR's Fresh Air (16 December 2002) Terry Gross's interview "The Big Business of Health Care" with Barlett & Steele on NPR's Fresh Air (6 October 2004) Exposé:"Friends in High Places" on PBS (July 2007) Liberadio(!) Interview with Don Barlett (12 February 2007) Appearances on C-SPAN In Depth interview with Barlett and Steele, January 6, 2013 Category:1936 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Political authors from the United States Category:Investigative journalists Category:Journalists from Pennsylvania Category:Non-fiction authors from the United States