January 9, 2009

Asking for TARP Funds Takes Only 27 Minutes

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Journalists have written so much about the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), better known as the federal bailout, that it’s hard to find a new angle. Seems like everyone‘s clamoring for a piece of the collective capital. Maybe that’s because it takes less than half an hour to ask for it.

It turns out that the application for TARP funds is surprisingly simple. Interested parties can find the complete guidelines for the TARP Capital Purchase Program
here. The application is just two pages long. As a test, we decided to fill it out. Including the time it took us to explain this project to our chief financial officer, the TARP application took a mere 27 minutes to complete.

To put it in perspective, here are five things that take longer than filling out the TARP application.

  1. Applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): 4 hours.
  2. Watching Wall Street: 2 hours, 5 minutes.
  3. Making a tuna noodle casserole: 1 hour, 20 minutes.
  4. Applying for New York State unemployment insurance benefits: 30 minutes.
  5. Applying for food stamps in New Jersey: 30 minutes.

One of the only things that takes less time is filling out a credit card application: 2 minutes.

—Alexis Fitts and Daniel Luzer

Image by flickr user JRP Photo

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