“Perhaps their criticism is that we dare to do math.”

The invaluable Jake Tapper, ABC's White House correspondent, elicited the above quote from the inspector general for TARP, who the Treasury Department is trying to discredit after he estimated the government has pledged up to ... wait for it ... $24 trillion in bailout money.

That's about 22 months worth of all the production of the entire American economy.

H/T HotAir, which had this to say:

I seem to recall when Barack Obama promised the most open and transparent administration ever. Since his inauguration, Obama has fired one IG for daring to oppose a sweetheart settlement with a political ally, allowed another to get dumped by the agency she oversaw, and now have publicly feuded with Barofsky. Earlier, they tried to limit his authority by claiming that Barofsky didn’t work independently of Treasury, which got a stern letter from Senator Charles Grassley. It looks as though the White House has declared war on transparency, and especially the IGs who exist to provide it.

Welcome to Obama's America. Remember when these folks called themselves the reality-based community?