Do you think TARP was a success using Bank of America as an example?Bank of America took their $45 billion in TARP money and gave out FEWER loans, and gave out even bigger bonuses to their executives during some of the worst economic times of the last 50 years. While at the same time raising interest rates dramatically without explanation on good standing customers. They... |
We are better off with TARP than without it. In that sense, it's a success. I dislike BofA, and I hated it when they swallowed up the bank where we have our mortgage. But to be fair, BofA was forced to buy out Merrill Lynch during the dark days after the Lehman failure, and much of the abuse of bonuses happens inside Merrill Lynch. I hate the fact that BofA, like many other banks, has not expanded their loans.
There used to be laws, on the books since the Great Depression, that kept banks from getting too large, and kept banks out of the stocks & bonds business. Those laws were swept away in Reagan's big round of deregulation, and that allowed banks Wall St companies to grow too large to fail. Capitalism works on the short term, but it needs government to break up or prevent monopolies on the long term. I think BofA and a number of other large banks should be broken up.
I also think CDSs (credit default swaps) need to be regulated. If you're going to buy insurance on some object (a house, a bond issue, a company, whatever) you should need to own some of the underlying asset before you can buy the insurance.
---------- update ----------
@Scales of Justice: Have you been getting your "facts" from Rush Limbaugh? In the House, TARP was called H.R. 1424: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and 91 republicans voted for it; see http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll681....
In the Senate, six republicans voted for Tarp: Alexander (TN), Gregg (NH), Kyl (AZ), Lugar (IN), Snowe (ME), Voinovich (OH).
.
I doubt that there was a "good" way to handle the bank collapse after it happened..
The Republicans would have screamed bloody murder if Bush/Congress had included too much control over how they used the money.
The fact is that a lot of people saw it coming, but since the Republicans had made it "legal" for the banks to be over-leveraged... there was nothing they could do to prevent it.
At least your honest. TARP was signed by Bush. Implemented and structured largely
by Geithner and Larry Sommers. With help from Christina Rhomer. the DEM congress
pushed through the legislation without one Republican Vote. That is providing you don't
count that RINO SNOW from Maine or her Phony *** counterpart, ALSO A RINO.
This was all on OBAMA and his gang.
If the goal of TARP was to keep the banks from folding, it has been successful so far.
If the goal of TARP was to restore the economy the banks destroyed, it has been unsuccessful.
Nope
They are giving fewer loans because of new government regulations mandating them to carry a higher percentage of assets.
Nope, the banks essentially pizzed all over us.
Time to return the favor.
we will never know, because the Bush Administration put a clause in the bill that made it ILLEGAL to investigate how the TARP Funds were spent.
Nope. & its another example of the fed govt getting involved where it shouldn't.
It was done wrong. It only favored republican donors banks while sacks and lehman were hung out to dry.
