It was announced yesterday by the Treasury Dept. that ten un-named banks have been
'approved' to repay the TARP money that they never should have taken in the first place. I thought that this announcement was interesting; it's not until you get to the last paragraph of the story that one reads the real reason why these banks want to get Fed-Gov out of their operations...
Some banks had argued that the capital program was forced on them and imposed conditions such as limits on executive compensation, and raised fears about government meddling in bank operations.
A hard and expensive lesson to learn; like making a deal with the Devil.
But, I suppose one can expect TOTUS, er, I mean The ONE to use this news to say that the Economic Stimulus Plan is working.
Here's an excerpt of the article for those interested, all emphasis is my own:
10 banks cleared to repay Treasury $68 billion
June 9, 2009 - 12:59AM
Ten of the largest US banks have been approved to repay the government a total of 68 billion US dollars for capital injections made to stabilize the financial system, the Treasury said Tuesday.
The Treasury, without naming any specific banks, made the announcement a day after the Federal Reserve said the 10 banks ordered to raise new capital following "stress tests" have developed sufficient programs to shore up their finances.
"Following consultation with the primary banking supervisor of each institution, Treasury has notified the institutions that they are now eligible to complete the repayment process," a Treasury statement said.
"If these firms choose to do so, Treasury will receive 68 billion US dollars in repayment proceeds."
Combined with repayments from smaller banks, the Treasury will have received some 70 billion US dollars in repayments under the Capital Purchase Program, formerly known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
...
The link:
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/10-banks-cleared-to-repay-treasury-68-billion-20090610-c2ef.html