Stress this: Some banks are weak

The real question is – are they paying it back so the Gov won’t be able to investigate them?

Sybil,

I can’t see what you might be finding to be unclear in the question. Actually, it’s rather direct in a yes/no sense. The implications and justification for your yes/no reply is what is at play here.
So, if you think yes/no, then why? Your answer will point to your view of the interaction between Wall Street and Washington. Period.

Also, let’s be clear about one thing that you have alluded to…The Congressional actions taken to enact TARP were done so to SAVE SELECTED AND INFLUENTIAL BANKERS and not save a “system”. If anything has been unclear in all of this mess, it’s the definition of the “system” that was saved.

I don’t actually “get” this question.

Of course banks should start paying back TARP. As soon as they are able. Its bad for the banks and bad for us for them to have the money.

I don’t agree that we needed to do it, but if we assume it was required as a stop gap to “save” the system, then everybody is better as soon as we are past the ’stop gap’ and back to real workings.

Seriously, what IS the point of this question so I can answer to point.

It’s going to be an interesting 36 hours, that’s for sure. with a 20% short interest float, there are a LOT of people out there becoming increasingly desperate to do anything to talk Citi’s stock down and try to prevent a short squeeze. Pretty much every article lauding WFC and insinuating Citi will disappoint has to be taken with a grain of salt because so many industry insiders stand to lose a LOT if Citi shares pleasantly suprise.

Hey Chris!…I like your thinking here. I would also support any bill that forced a transparent audit of our National Gold Reserves.

AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE!

SUPPORT HR 1207!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted By Chris Cantwell, Bradenton FL: April 15, 2009 4:45 pm

Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Pay back TARP and all other backroom funding deals that continue to line their pockets.

AND, all of the banks should pay back the bonuses that they “earned” for themselves for the past 6 years by fabricating a phoney method of generating phoney profits that became the justification for their phoney earnings.

I would suggest people get the facts straight regarding the “bailout”. In fact it is not a bailout but a loan program that has to be paid back with interest. The rate is 5% for the first 5 years and 8% for 5-10 years. Believe it or not, this is a pretty good investment by the government. 5 to 10 year Treasury notes and Agencies are no where near these yields.
Secondly, read the restrictions that the “GOVERNMENT” put on the repayment of the CPP funds. They need to raise the equivalent in equity capital before they can repay the loan along with other requirements and restrictions.
Please read and know the facts before becoming experts and critics of the banks. I was against the “bailout” but it is here and we have to deal with it.
Finally, the government should not disclose the stress tests just as it is illegal to disclose and information regarding the regulatory examination of a bank. The reason is to prevent runs on banks. The FDIC has qualified deposits insured for that purpose.

AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE!

SUPPORT HR 1207!!!!!!!!!!!

What a lot of people don’t seem to realize is that this bank failure has happened in the near past. It almost ruined the economy in Oklahoma when Penn Square bank failed in the 80’s. You can say that it was healthy but it ruined the real estate market for more than 10 years. It totally affected all the population regardless of whether they had anything to do with it or not. I’m not in favor of bailing out all the banks but having seen the alternative I would rather have it happen than see a national collapse akin to what happened in OK in the 80s.

Home prices fell more than 40% for more than 10 years.

People left the state in droves!

Companies would not consider Oklahoma because of the economy.

People who had never missed a payment in their life lost their jobs and their homes.

It is easy to deride the bailouts, however the cure is to have better regulation to prevent catastrophe.

I don’t like regulation but you have to have rules for everything.

Something to think about!

The plan should have never been put in place. Goldmann Sachs should be required to repay the AIG money as well as their own TARP funds. I should not be forced by law to subsidize salaries which are 1000 times greater than my own. The screw ups in these big banks should be out on their ears. Many should be in prison.

I seriously doubt the Treasury secretary will identify individual banks that are weak based on the stress tests. I think TARP should have never been passed. It’s subsidizing failure at taxpayer expense. It was blackmail pure and simple and Congress buckled. It’s time to clean up Congress and get some responsible legislators.

The bailout was described as necessary to prevent a systemic failure of the financial system. Many of us knew it was it was a con job, but Congress ignored us.

Some of the bailout money given to AIG and others was paid to Goldman Sachs. So we the people know it was just Paulson protecting his buddies at Goldman Sachs from being embarassed.

Goldman Sachs should return that money to the American taxpayer (via the Federal Government) with interest, before they pay back the TARP funds.

The real reason Goldman Sachs wants to be free of the TARP oversight is that they have new scams to unleash, new gambling debts to sucker others into that they mislabel as Credit Default Swaps, and they want to be unencumbered by “the public has a right to know” and other such silly things.

Perhaps Goldman Sachs should give bonuses to the American taxpayer for saving their sorry asses, instead of to their already over-compensated high-income employees. They could give money for unemployment needs in many areas – one billion dollars provides $200 a week for 25 weeks for 200,000 people who were lower income workers.

ALL banks should start paying back TARP funds, regardless of what Goldman decides to do. If they can’t pay, they go down.

From the start, this was a dumb program, rammed through Congress under threat of calamity.

If we’re going to be kapitalists, we have to be willing to let failing banks fail so that others can succeed. If not, we’re France (hey, they drink wine at lunch, so it’s not that bad), and we should admit it.

We also need to stop obsessing about the finance sector and start focusing on the real economy and job creation.

I fail to see why it’s a bad idea for organizations given taxpayer money to pay it back when they no longer require that money to stay solvent. Of course banks should pay TARP back as soon as they are able.