Now, none of us knew when we came that only bloggers were invited. Personally, I expected it to be a broader press briefing that some bloggers could come to as well. "Deep background" is well understood to the press, but new to bloggers. My blogging friends at the meeting can correct me, but all of us were surprised that it was only bloggers at the meeting.
My only clue that they might have treated us nicer than some other gatherings, was that some staffers not at the meeting came in after the meeting to raid some cookies. Now, maybe that is normal regardless there. I've seen the same things in corporate settings. The e-mail announcement, "Open season in room 406!" That said, the chocolate chip cookies were all gone. 
I had one, as did Tyler, I think. Maybe the Treasury officials had the rest.
Personally, I am comfortable with the restrictions on reporting from the meeting. The Treasury's high-level staff sound the same tune. It doesn't matter if we identify them or not, they reflect the policies of the Obama Treasury. With restrictions on not identifying who said what, to me it does not matter, because they were senior Treasury officials. We can quote, or approximately quote. We can't tie it to a single person. That doesn't affect us much. We know what they think, and we can write about it. We just can't say exactly who said it, or whether they were there.
Making Money or Not
Few areas of the US government are designed to make money. One of the main points that Treasury made to us was that the TARP would cost little, or might make money. TARP is a piece of a larger puzzle. My question is this, counting in all of the bailouts, including all stimulus programs, what is the cost to the taxpayer? Now, I ask my readers what they know here. E-mail me with any comprehensive pieces that you have seen, or put it in the comments, so that all can see.
