The race is on! US Banks are desperate to pay back the TARP funds they borrowed from the taxpayer so that the we don’t actually expect to have a say in how much they pay the so-called “best and brightest”. I will fore-go discussing how the financial industry, which brought the world to its knees and a huge cost to taxpayers around the world, could possibly continue to delude themselves into thinking they are the smartest people on the planet because, well, errr, its insane! Do the people running GM and Chrysler think they are the smartest auto-execs? Does the country perceive them to be? Enough said.
Bank of America diluted their shareholders’ investment by selling stock to repay the TARP in order to avoid having to abide by the Pay Czar’s rules. Citibank is now desperately trying to do the same when their shares are already trading at a dismal $4 per share. The Board of Director’s and upper management clearly do not care about their shareholders at all. They only care about their own compensation. Any additional revenue should be used to to ensure strong balance sheets so that banks can make good loans and perhaps even partake in some mortgage modifications to help the economy. This is the reason the taxpayers bailed them out in the first place, not so that they can continue to pay themselves exorbitant compensation while the destroying the economy.
Analysts and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair agree that the banks are not really in a sound enough financial position to repay these loans and their shareholders are being hurt by the repayaments – you remember the shareholders – the people you are supposed to be looking out for above anything else. The only conclusion we can draw from all of this is the bankers continue to place their own greed above everything else, and clearly expect the taxpayer to continue to bail them out when their greed destroys their companies and the economy.
