Friday, March 06, 2009

When plutocrats attack! 

From Bloomberg today:
Last week, when American taxpayers learned that a bank receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program funds had thrown a lavish bash and spared no expense to celebrate with the bands Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire, I introduced legislation based on a simple concept: if a company accepts bailout funds from the taxpayer, it can�t waste money on lavish parties, expensive dinners and Tiffany trinkets.

The reaction in some quarters suggests that I had attempted -- like a modern-day Dean Wormer in �Animal House� -- to ban fun of any kind, or that the wheels of commerce and marketing would grind to a halt.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Normal marketing and travel wouldn�t be affected one iota.

I believe we have to insist that tax dollars be spent wisely because, otherwise, Americans will refuse to rescue any business struggling in the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression. And believe me, Americans struggling to hold onto their homes and their jobs are already tired of picking up the newspaper and reading about idiotic abuses of taxpayer money.

When did Senator Kerry become a senator? Who pays him? And was this a wise use of tax dollars?

But here is the most delicious part. You read somewhere, perhaps Mitch, talk about how TCF is returning the money from TARP because it didn't want the money and didn't need the money (which is what the partiers Kerry is attaching say too). But in this interview between Bill Cooper and Greta van Susteren, did you catch this?

VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of the $361 million, have you contacted them and told them that it is coming back? How do you do this?

COOPER: Yes, we filed with it. There is a number where you file and tell them we want to pay the money back. The stimulus bill contained a provision that permits you to do this, and they have to consult then with the regulators, your primary regulator, to determine whether if it is prudent that you pay it back, that you have enough capital and good operations, and so forth, that you could pay it back. And I am confident that they will find that is the case with us.

You have to ASK PERMISSION to pay back the money? So you are compelled to take the cash, and when you try to pay it back you have to have the government tell you it's OK for you to repay. Senator Ketchup can keep you on the leash as long as he wants by calling the regulators. Incredible. I've never seen anything like this.

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