Half a year ago, our financial system was in catastrophe, and the debate was over how much money it would take to bail them out, or even take them over. Today, the biggest banks are -- or at least appear to be -- on stable footing, and the debate is over how much TARP money they will be allowed to give back. To be clear, this is a statement of confidence from the banks, not evidence that they will be OK in four or six months. But it is still a remarkable turn of events, one we can credit to the Obama administration's overall strategy of ... what again?
The New York Times reports Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, American Express, Bank of New York Mellon, the BB&T Corporation, Capital One Financial, State Street Corporation and US Bancorp will start repaying TARP funds. Obama said the taxpayer "actually turned a profit."
“I also want to say: the return of these funds does not provide forgiveness for past excesses or permission for future misdeeds,” Mr. Obama said. “It is critical that as our country emerges from this period of crisis, that we learn its lessons; that those who seek reward do not take reckless risk; that short-term gains are not pursued without regard for long-term consequences.”
The conservative stimulus plan: Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt are calling on Americans to boycott General Motors. Limbaugh's and Hewitt's plan is to bankrupt an American company, put American workers out of jobs and have the taxpayers lose money for attempting to bail GM out. Limbaugh and Hewitt showed they don't care about fiscal discipline kick-starting the economy. They just want to see Obama fail.
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