Potent Quotables (updated periodically)

  • "If you like sausages and laws, you should never watch either one of them being made." -- Otto von Bismarck
  • "God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." -- Thomas Jefferson
  • "The best way to prove a stick is crooked is to lay a straight one beside it" -- FW Boreham
  • "There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who walk into a room and say, 'There you are' and those who say, 'Here I am'" -- Abigail Van Buren
  • "It was not political rhetoric, mass rallies or poses of moral indignation that gave the people a better life. It was capitalism." -- Thomas Sowell

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Not a surprise

Due to a number of factors (congressional overreach tops among them), banks are actively turning down TARP injections and now giving TARP money back to the Treasury.
Other banks have suggested that the recently passed stimulus package, which included a measure aimed at reining in bonuses for senior executives and top earners at banks that got TARP funds, would harm their firms even further.

"We believe participation in TARP has created a competitive disadvantage for TCF and it is in the best interest of our shareholders to redeem these shares," said TCF Chairman and CEO William Cooper in a statement when the company announced its plans last week.

Many bankers are also troubled by the inconsistency in the government's rescue efforts so far. Others worry that regulators or lawmakers could change the accompanying terms of the government's capital purchase program as they see fit in the future.

For example, some fear that banks which have received TARP funds could be pushed to make certain types of loans or fulfill some sort of loan quota, following the ongoing public outcry that banks are not lending.

"The biggest issue is just the fact that the rules can change," said Alan Avery, a partner in the financial services group at the law firm Arnold & Porter.

And the stupid quote of the day:
Yet another unanswered question is what will Treasury actually do with the refunded money.
Um. How about paying down the deficit you enlarged by doing this deal in the first place?

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