Misuse Of TARP Funds

I read with great interest the two letters by Gerard J. Putz and Matt S. Melvin (C&EN, Jan. 25, page 4) critiquing the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) America International Group's well-intentioned initiative to launch a program introducing U.S. undergraduate chemistry and chemical engineering majors to careers in the chemical industry (C&EN, Nov. 16, 2009, page 3). The writers aptly point out that more pressing issues should be addressed first to help bolster our chemical industry and one's desire to be part of it.

In his letter, Putz refers to Pfizer's plan to terminate approximately 19,000 employees, and he adds that more should be done to help these people and "the many more thousands of unemployed chemists and chemical engineers who have already committed their careers to the U.S. chemical industry." Pfizer's plan to cut 19,000 jobs is further exacerbated by the following facts: Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, recently purchased Wyeth for approximately $68 billion, $22.5 billion of which was borrowed from a consortium of banks, four of which received substantial bailout funds from our government. These banks include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America.

The government program that made all this possible was the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), funded by U.S. taxpayers. The funds were supposed to rescue our failing banking system and act as a stimulus to our faltering economy. They were not meant to assist corporate giants to grow even larger at the expense of taking away the livelihoods of thousands of workers who would lose their jobs as an inevitable result of a single corporate acquisition.

I am sadly disappointed that there was no outcry of injustice raised by professional organizations such as SCI or ACS for such a misdirected use of taxpayer dollars.

Arthur A. Santilli
Havertown, Pa.