Those of us who at a minimum had severe reservations about TARP and at a maximum opposed it are being proven right about our concerns. Where, oh where to begin.
I’ll start with the news that I first heard Saturday and posted through the Emergency Blogging System now that I found a link – Bloomberg reports that the Treasury will be hanging onto their stock warrants after the TARP loans are repaid and the prefered stock the Treasury received as part of the package is bought back, only releasing the warrants after a further negotiated settlement.
Item #2 – Fox Business reports that Treasury officials are considering converting the the aforementioned prefered stock into common stock, complete with voting rights. In several instances, that would make the government the largest voting shareholder.
Item #3 (H/T – Legal Insurrection) – The Financial Times reports that repayment would be accepted only if it were in the “national economic interest”. That’s right; banks that have the money to pay back the loans and pass the “stress test” may not be allowed to pay back the government.
I’m just waiting for the booming voice that is in the Grand Finale of Rush’s “2112” to announce, “Attention all banks of the United States of America. We have assumed control. We have assumed control. We have assumed control.”
