by Tina Grazier
Go ahead, hate the big bankers if you like! Refuse to do business with them and don’t hold their stock. Tell all your friends and neighbors what jerks they are but at the same time, don’t let that seething hatred keep you from realizing that there is something very sinister going on in the Obama administration:
“Obama to Announce Bank Fees to Recoup TARP Losses,” by Karen Tavers and Sunlen Miller – ABC News
A senior administration official said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday night that President Obama feels strongly that he “must honor both his personal commitment and the legal commitment of the TARP to ensure that all of the costs are borne by the financial industry and not by the American taxpayer.” ** When asked how the administration will make sure that fees are not passed on to customers, the senior administration official said that these financial institutions have a “competitive incentive” to not do that because it is not a fee on the entire financial industry. ** The senior administration official stressed that TARP was designed to help out the economy as a whole and not bailout specific institutions or their executives and said the fee is a “minimum” of what is owed back for the significant costs that taxpayers put out.
Hmmm…anything wrong with this picture? Well a couple of things come to mind. Some of these banks were “given” taxpayer money…in fact they were told they HAD to take the money. They have paid the money back with interest. Some banks targeted to pay these fees have NOT received TARP funds yet they will pay these fees for more than ten years.
Car companies and unions were also given TARP money. They are NOT being asked to pay back TARP monies. They are NOT being charged special fees to “ensure that all of the costs are borne” by them, rather than taxpayers.
Fannie and Freddie have been EXCLUDED from this TARP fee. They were also bailed out with TARP funds and have they NOT paid back those funds. It’s interesting that they are also now allowed to carry MORE bad loans than they did before the crisis. Their CEO’s have received BIG bonuses without a single disparaging word from the White House or in the media.
Government passed legislation that caused the lending debacle in the first place. They forced institutions to make bad loans. Now this administration has no intention of invigorating the economy, restoring confidence to the real estate market or making sure lending institutions and banks remain strong. They are doing everything they can to keep us in crisis indefinitely.
And this just came to my attention regarding government bailouts and unfair taxation. It’s the goop that passes for frosting on a very ugly cake:
“ClimateGate’s Michael Mann Received Stimulus Funds, Media Mum,” by Noel Sheppard – NewsBusters
A scientist in the middle of the ClimateGate scandal received economic stimulus funds last June. ** According to the conservative think tank the National Center for Public Policy Research, Mann received $541,184 in economic stimulus funds last June to conduct climate change research.
This has NOTHING to do with economic recovery (JOBS!) and everything to do with passing tax money to special interest as a gift! This from the political side that is always screaming about special interests. Tsk Tsk!