Editor:

Recently I read in the news that Federal Reserve Bank of New York was going to loan 200 billion dollars to banks and companies that provide credit cards. It's called "Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). "I thought that was strange, because I don't want to see my tax money taken and lent out to credit card companies at low rates who will then lend the money out at incredible rates.

I wrote to the Board of the Federal Reserve and received a shocking reply in return. Not only is the Federal Reserve going to loan this money, they are going to use 20 billion dollars of the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) to back up any losses that the companies might experience.

Why are they adding that cherry to the top? Well - the 200 billion dollars is being loaned on a "non-recourse" basis. Non-recourse means that only the item used as collateral may be collected if a default occurs.

So - if someone fails to pay their credit card bill and goes into default, then the United States government will pay the bank off. If everyone who has a credit card drops their card and the whole thing falls apart - the banks will not be held liable.

Americans will still have to pay 18 or 20 percent interest on credit card loans or go bankrupt to shed them.

Why is Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner getting away with this? Is it because he used to be the President of the Federal Bank of New York?

What is being described here is taxing us, to lend money to banks, to lend to us at a high interest rate, to pay our bills - whether it be for a television set, clothes, food, a car or a house.

It is clear the plan is unsupportable. Does it seem to you that the government of the United States and our nation as a whole is bankrupt and out of money?

We are the people. Who wants the TARP and TALF sham to continue?

Alfred Brock

Wayne, MI