TARP Montage: One
A plugged-in tipster forwards a photo montage currently making the rounds on Wall Street and simply entitled “TARP.”


TARP Montage: Two
TARP Montage: Three
TARP Montage: Four
TARP Montage: Five
TARP Montage: Six
TARP Montage: Seven

24 thoughts on “An Interpretative TARP Photo Montage For A Rather Rough Friday”
  1. Funny/scary/sad. I think the last one (if not the whole series) is fake. The blue truck looks exactly like the green one and there’s an extra truck in the water.
    [Editor’s Note: Our bet’s actually on the last two being fake, but you get the point (and sentiment on the street).]

  2. jake, the last one is a photoshop version of the 4th photo, but let’s not rain on the parade. friday funnies are always welcome.

  3. Take a look at the crowd in the last and 3rd to last photo. Notice how the crowd seems to be standing in the exact same position in both photos? I smell a photoshop job.

  4. Those should be “fiat” trucks (although I’m probaly missing the nuance of using volvo) 🙂
    Plus it’s obviously ‘shopped, taking the fiat joke to a whole new level…

  5. also knows as “throwing good money after bad money”
    this funny truck photo montage carries a subtext of “good faith stupidity”, which can not be said for the real TARP

  6. I’m pretty sure #6 is faked. Where did all of the people go between #5 and #6? Why is the dude in the white turned around? You’d think he’d be a little more aware since he’s stainding so close, possibly in the path, of the truck. Also, consider the force pulling the truck in would be gone once the load was back in the water and on the ground. I could see it tipping but not going in.
    Regardless…pretty damn funny!

  7. People in #4 and #6 are in the same position. The green truck has obviously been photoshopped from #5 to #6 using #4 image. Look at the truck cabin in #5, 6 and 7. They’re all from the same angle, hint that they’re all copies of the #5 truck.
    Can we now stop beating this dead horse?

  8. 6 and 7 are faked. The rest are from the original series of real photos.
    San FronziScheme had it right with his link above.
    Doesn’t anyone read the threads anymore?

  9. This is fake. The car and the first truck did actually go into the harbor. The second truck got them all out. This is from Scotland in 2004.

  10. I am tired of all the economic negative news. I think the reason the economy sounds bad has less to do with an actual recession than media sensationalism and doomsday pessimism. Everyone was in a panic in 2008 because the price of oil was rising, but the sky did not fall. I don’t think the media should lie about a high unemployment rate, but I would like to hear more positive news stories.
    http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/alpha-consumer/2009/1/8/did-the-media-cause-the-recession.html
    I did some research and found that there is plenty of good news out there:
    The recession officially ended in June 2009:
    http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/20/news/economy/recession_over/?section=money_latest
    The stock market has risen 53% recently and is still cheap:
    http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/15/cautious-optimism/?uniontrib
    Wells Fargo, Apple, Ford, SkyWest, Adidas, Men’s Wearhouse, Kroger’s, General Mills, AutoZone, CarMax, Walgreen, Dell, and Disney are some of the many companies to have declared profits recently:
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=az6fjhaa_gsg
    http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-11-05-skywest-q3-profit_n.htm
    http://www.sanluisobispo.com/topnews/story/906588.html
    http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/182538.asp?from=blog_last3
    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-earns22-2009oct22,0,1394503.story
    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-10/men-s-wearhouse-surges-most-since-09-as-profit-rises-update2-.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/business/15kroger.html?src=busln
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-22/general-mills-first-quarter-profit-rises-12-on-sales-of-cereals-snacks.html
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/21/AR2010092101256.html
    http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/09/22/1033100?sac=Bus
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/business/29walgreen.html
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-15/dell-reports-profit-that-tops-estimates-on-business-pc-demand.html
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fg%2Fa%2F2011%2F02%2F08%2Fbloomberg1376-LG9TY20D9L3501-0G67SN2ECLJ7PKT7EQBGOISSMQ.DTL
    US housing starts have increased:
    http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/10/us_housing_starts_rise.html
    Business confidence has risen:
    http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1203965&srvc=rss
    Factory orders have increased:
    http://www.telegram.com/article/20110203/NEWS/110209884/1002/busines
    Consumer confidence has risen:
    http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/31/news/economy/consumer_confidence/index.htm?section=money_latest
    Consumer spending is up:
    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M2WK20100628?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r5:c0.051546:b35270006:z0
    North Dakota has an unemployment rate of just 3.7%. South Dakota and Nebraska have unemployment rates of less than 5%. Unemployed people who move there will find work and need to buy homes, food, and services creating more jobs. If you don’t have a job, move. If you can’t sell your house at the price you want, you shouldn’t have paid so much for it. If you don’t want to move and make trade-offs, I guess that you aren’t that desperate for work.
    http://www.bls.gov/lau/
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703803904576152630710927512.html
    http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/81609/
    The United States will face a labor SHORTAGE in the next few years as millions of baby boomers retire. There are 76 million baby boomers, but Generation X only has 46 million people.
    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002185894_boomers21.html
    http://www.argusleader.com/article/20091107/business/911070331/1001/news
    If you really want to stay where you are and haven’t found a job, think of a way to make money from your hobbies. Find a need and fill it. Do you like to cook? Are you good at fixing things? Do you like to paint? I strongly believe that if you do what you love, the money will follow. Just because someone says there is a recession, doesn’t make it true. Just because most people used to believe the world was flat, did that make it true? If you are feeling negative, I highly recommend the book “You Can Have it All”:
    http://www.librarything.com/work/508754
    You might also feel less sorry for yourself or the economy if put your life in perspective. Would you rather live in Zimbabwe where the GDP per capita income is $200 per YEAR?
    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html
    Even if things are really bad for you and you become homeless, there is a safety net of food banks, shelters, general relief, and food stamps. You could join a commune or a monastary.
    America needs a good pep talk instead of negativity. I really think Obama would be more helpful to the economy by talking about the positive sides instead of pushing expensive stimulus programs. People should live within their means to avoid crashing the economy, but even when overextended, the United States has managed to pay the massive debts of the Depression and WWII.
    http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
    Americans need to think more like immigrants. Politicians are too afraid to say it, but Americans should stop whining, get up, take responsibility, lower their standards, bite their lips, tough it out, and get busy. Americans should stop buying SUV’s and McMansions they can’t afford and pay off their debts. I have no sympathy for the sheep who went in debt to buy expensive restaurant meals, clothes, vacations, cars, and overpriced homes when times were good instead of saving for a rainy day. Buy LOW and sell HIGH. If people had put their money in the bank instead of wasting it they would still have it. The United States is capitalist not Communist. There is social Darwinism and survival of the fittest here. If Americans want a handout, they should move to Sweden. I have seen refugees from places like Vietnam immigrate to the US with NOTHING and own houses and cars five years later, while some lazy Americans who haved lived in public housing and on welfare for GENERATIONS complain about how poor they are. Why can a third world immigrant who doesn’t speak English make more money in five years than some Americans who have lived in the US their entire life?
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/09/27/financial/f063017D17.DTL&ao=all
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895004575395491314812452.html
    The negative thinking about “tough times” and the supposedly “decline of the US” kills me. The USA is by far the richest and most powerful country in the world. Who invented the assembly line, telephones, movies, light bulbs, airplanes, air conditioning, elevators, skyscapers, television, the atomic bomb, the pill, calculators, microwaves, lasers, the Internet, mobile phones, the space shuttle, and landed on the moon? What country wins the most medals at the Olympics despite having only 5% of the world’s population? If the United States is dying, why do so many people want to immigrate there?
    http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-United-States-inventions
    http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/02/14/russian-or-not-russian/
    http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/medals
    I think the best years of the United States are ahead of us, not behind us. I would be shocked if the USA won’t be the first country to put a person on Mars, invent mass-produced hydrogen and solar cars, and cure cancer. Americans who worry about the future are ignoring the facts and aren’t doing anyone any favors.
    While I am not blind to the difficulties that may exist in the present economy, I just think people should be more optimistic and look at the good sides. I remember when I was in middle school in the mid 1980’s and had a teacher who asked my classmates whether the USA was on the way to the peak of power, at the peak, or on the way down. I was the only student who said the US hasn’t reached the peak yet. A few years later the Soviet Union collapsed, the Japanese economy crashed, and America was the only superpower.
    I am not sure if there is a recession, but if there is one, I think it will be over soon.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/opinion/05douthat.html?_r=1

  11. “I think the reason the economy sounds bad has less to do with an actual recession than media sensationalism and doomsday pessimism.”
    Durn those nattering nabobs of negativity!
    “Everyone was in a panic in 2008 because the price of oil was rising, but the sky did not fall.”
    Uh. Lot’s of people’s skies fell. We’re in the middle of the Great Recession. Only the contraction of economic activity brought oil demand below supply and broke the back of high prices.
    “I don’t think the media should lie about a high unemployment rate, but I would like to hear more positive news stories.”
    I suggest CNBC, all bubble, all the time.
    “The recession officially ended in June 2009:”
    Hooray! I hereby officially declare that gumdrops are falling from the sky.
    “The stock market has risen 53% recently and is still cheap:”
    Who knew that printing up a few trillion dollars and handing it to Goldman Sachs to play with could goose the market?
    “Wells Fargo, Apple, Ford, SkyWest, Adidas, Men’s Wearhouse, Kroger’s, General Mills, AutoZone, CarMax, Walgreen, Dell, and Disney are some of the many companies to have declared profits recently:”
    Hooray! Who knew that firing workers and have the survivors work harder could increase profits. Who knew that being handed government bailouts could increase profits. Who knew that being allowed to lie about your balance sheet could increase profits.
    “US housing starts have increased:”
    Hooray! We desperately need more houses.
    “Business confidence has risen:”
    Hooray! Nothing like having the taxpayer ride in on a white horse and declare that they will never allow you to fail no matter how much you screw up to boost confidence.
    “Factory orders have increased:”
    Would be great if we weren’t charging that to the credit card.
    “Consumer confidence has risen:”
    As the famous saying goes, “If you’re not terrified you’re just not paying attention.”
    “Consumer spending is up:”
    Hooray! Government payments are now 20% of total income and are being charged to the credit card.
    “North Dakota has an unemployment rate of just 3.7%. South Dakota and Nebraska have unemployment rates of less than 5%. Unemployed people who move there will find” … that the farms already have everyone they need.
    “The United States will face a labor SHORTAGE in the next few years as millions of baby boomers retire. There are 76 million baby boomers, but Generation X only has 46 million people.”
    Yes it will. If only the 76 million baby boomers had lot’s of money to pay the 46 million Gen-Xers to do stuff. Maybe we shouldn’t ax social security after all.
    “If you really want to stay where you are and haven’t found a job, think of a way to make money from your hobbies. Find a need and fill it. Do you like to cook? Are you good at fixing things? Do you like to paint? I strongly believe that if you do what you love, the money will follow.”
    And people once believed that if someone was sick all you had to do was bleed them with leaches and they would get better.
    “Just because someone says there is a recession, doesn’t make it true.”
    Just because someone says that a positive attitude will get you a job doesn’t make it true.
    “Just because most people used to believe the world was flat, did that make it true? If you are feeling negative, I highly recommend the book “You Can Have it All”:”
    I generally recommend Halliday and Resnick, Physics 101. Not always a barrel of laughs but then at least you have a good idea about how the real world works.
    “You might also feel less sorry for yourself or the economy if put your life in perspective. Would you rather live in Zimbabwe where the GDP per capita income is $200 per YEAR?”
    Finally, something I can agree with.
    “Even if things are really bad for you and you become homeless, there is a safety net of food banks, shelters, general relief, and food stamps. You could join a commune or a monastary.
    America needs a good pep talk instead of negativity.”
    I would prefer a clear and level headed discussion of what is required to create and preserve the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed. Unfortunately all we get is denial, ideology, blame, happy talk, wishful thinking and pandering to peoples preconceptions.
    “I really think Obama would be more helpful to the economy by talking about the positive sides instead of pushing expensive stimulus programs. People should live within their means to avoid crashing the economy,”
    A stable level of economic activity requires a constant flow of money through the economy. Our current system is dominated by positive feedback loops and is unstable. The surge of credit from the housing bubble goosed economic activity and now its contraction is having the opposite effect. If everyone tried to pay off their debts economic activity would collapse.
    ” but even when overextended, the United States has managed to pay the massive debts of the Depression and WWII.”
    Um, you do know we’re $12T in debt.
    “Americans need to think more like immigrants. Politicians are too afraid to say it, but Americans should stop whining, get up, take responsibility, lower their standards, bite their lips, tough it out, and get busy.”
    You have to have demand, people with money in hand and willing to spend it, before people can “get busy”. Otherwise there is nothing to do. At least, nothing that will pay. I guess all the unemployed people during the Great Depression were just lazy negative thinkers.
    “Americans should stop buying SUV’s and McMansions they can’t afford and pay off their debts. I have no sympathy for the sheep who went in debt to buy expensive restaurant meals, clothes, vacations, cars, and overpriced homes when times were good instead of saving for a rainy day. Buy LOW and sell HIGH. If people had put their money in the bank instead of wasting it they would still have it. The United States is capitalist not Communist. There is social Darwinism and survival of the fittest here. If Americans want a handout, they should move to Sweden. I have seen refugees from places like Vietnam immigrate to the US with NOTHING and own houses and cars five years later, while some lazy Americans who haved lived in public housing and on welfare for GENERATIONS complain about how poor they are. Why can a third world immigrant who doesn’t speak English make more money in five years than some Americans who have lived in the US their entire life?”
    No comment.
    “The negative thinking about “tough times” and the supposedly “decline of the US” kills me. The USA is by far the richest and most powerful country in the world. Who invented the assembly line, telephones, movies, light bulbs, airplanes, air conditioning, elevators, skyscapers, television, the atomic bomb, the pill, calculators, microwaves, lasers, the Internet, mobile phones, the space shuttle, and landed on the moon? What country wins the most medals at the Olympics despite having only 5% of the world’s population? If the United States is dying, why do so many people want to immigrate there?”
    Still plenty of meat on that carcass, at least compared to a lot of place in the world.
    “I think the best years of the United States are ahead of us, not behind us. I would be shocked if the USA won’t be the first country to put a person on Mars, invent mass-produced hydrogen and solar cars, and cure cancer. Americans who worry about the future are ignoring the facts and aren’t doing anyone any favors.”
    We inherited a treasure trove of energy in the form of fossil fuels and we built machines to take that energy and do our work for us. The Chindians are beginning to demand their share of the inheritance. Our future prosperity will depend on creating an infrastructure to provide energy that doesn’t depend on finite fossil fuels. We are doing next to nothing compared to what would be required to make that happen.
    “While I am not blind to the difficulties that may exist in the present economy, I just think people should be more optimistic and look at the good sides. I remember when I was in middle school in the mid 1980’s and had a teacher who asked my classmates whether the USA was on the way to the peak of power, at the peak, or on the way down. I was the only student who said the US hasn’t reached the peak yet. A few years later the Soviet Union collapsed, the Japanese economy crashed, and America was the only superpower.
    I am not sure if there is a recession, but if there is one, I think it will be over soon.”
    I think we have entered the endless recession of fossil fuel depletion. The future will be wave after wave of energy price surges followed by economic contraction.

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