Regarding the tight lending standards of banks that were recipients of so much TARP money, lost on Barofsky is that the bailouts, far from boosting lending, actually made it tighter.

FORBES: Book Review: Bailout, by Neil Barofsky

Several years ago I was complaining to a financial advisor that we had lost so much money in the past several months.

FORBES: Weathering a Financial Storm

In fiscal 1996 Quantum lost so much money on the line that Brown turned manufacturing over to a Japanese partner, a subsidiary of Matsushita Group.

FORBES: Serendigity

So why do we continue to romanticize the story of an investor who lost as much money as he ever made?

FORBES: Excessive Trading Leads To Death

As Margaret Hodge observed, a billion pounds pays for 50, 000 nurses - so several lost billions equate to quite a significant impact on the NHS. Her summing up talked about how much money might be "salvaged" from the programme - strongly suggesting that the committee would recommend that it should be axed.

BBC: NHS IT debacle shows public accounts committee strength