They don't want the taxpayers to know how much they're paying the banks to manage the bailout.

The Treasury Department has hired three outside firms this week to help administer its $700 billion, taxpayer-funded bailout of troubled banks. But some key details of those contracts remain a mystery.

 

The agreements with Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP that the Treasury Department posted on its web site each had blacked-out paragraphs in the sections dealing with compensation.

 

The government's three-year contract with Bank of New York Mellon does not show how much the company will be paid to act as the master custodian of the bailout fund. The contract says that the bank will be paid a monthly fee, but that fee is blacked out.

 

hat tip: bailoutsleuth