Now that the truth is beginning to dribble out about the Troubled Asset Relief Program – the Government Accountability Office’s eagle-eyed auditors said they found no evidence that it prevented a financial meltdown a year ago – this $700 billion monument to political posturing should be shut down. This can be done in three easy steps: First, federal financial regulators should be called before Congress to explain why they did nothing before 2008 to stop the proliferation of toxic mortgage-backed securities; second, all outstanding TARP funds given to corporations should be returned with interest by a date certain; and third and most important, government-owned shares in companies that received TARP funds should be sold.

Are the two men in Congress most responsible for overseeing TARP ready to clean up the mess? There is no way of knowing because they won’t say. The Examiner got no response from spokesmen for either Senate banking committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., or House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass. We asked if they have read the damning GAO report and if they plan to do anything in response to it’s central finding.