"The banks are eager to leave the program for a number of reasons, not least because executive pay is limited as long as companies have the funds."
Oh, it is so they can LOOT THEIR COMPANIES without the slavish government looking over their shoulders.
Here's why they got it in the first place:
"First nine banks were forced to take bailouts; Documents show US was insistent" by Sara Lepro, Associated Press | May 15, 2009
NEW YORK - The chief executives of the country's nine largest banks had no choice but to accept capital infusions from the Treasury Department in October, government documents released Wednesday have confirmed.
Obtained and released by Judicial Watch, a nonpartisan educational foundation, the documents reveal "talking points" used by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the Oct. 13 meeting between federal officials and the executives that stressed the investments would be required "in any circumstance," whether the banks found them appealing or not.
Paulson also told the bankers it would not be prudent to opt out of the program because doing so "would leave you vulnerable and exposed."
Sounds like a "threat" to me.
So Paulson basically BLACKMAILED THEM and US (I'll bet the banks didn't fight to hard) -- what some would call EXTORTION!
I say we expose Hank to this:
Banks that were initially required to accept the funds were Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., State Street Corp., Bank of New York Mellon, and Bank of America Corp., including the soon-to-be-acquired Merrill Lynch.
Paulson wanted healthy institutions that did not necessarily need capital to participate in the program first, to remove any stigma that might be associated with a bailout.
Translation: He GAVE AWAY TAXPAYER DOLLARS to HEALTHY BANKS for NO REASON!!!
--more--"
Btw, Hank, the thing had a STIGMA FROM the START!
That's why we FLOODED CAPITOL HILL with phone calls and their hasn't been a second official bailout (Fed and Treasury working that behind the scenes with cover from MSM).
