Every day now I see a new article quoting this or that bank CEO saying it was a mistake to take government aid and that they’ve decided to give it back. Yesterday it was Northern Trust. Today it’s Bank of America. Yet each time I look down into the articles, the headlines about paying
the money back are never borne out in the articles themselves. Northern Trust doesn’t want to be hassled any more about lavish events. So they’re giving the money back. When? As soon as they can manage it.
Now Bank of America’s Ken Lewis says they made a “tactical mistake” in asking for and receiving more money to absorb Merrill Lynch. So when are they paying it back? Hopefully in “two to three years.”
How can you say it was a mistake when you won’t be able to pay it back for years? I think that means you need it.
It seems to me that if you’re saying it was a mistake and you’re going to give it back and then you say you’re not going to pay it back for years, I think that means it wasn’t a mistake since obviously you cannot make do without the money. What am I missing?
What it looks like to me is that a lot of these TARPers are getting headlines on the cheap saying they either didn’t want the money, don’t need it or are actually giving it back, when it turns out they plan to hold on to the money for years.
