I've been critical of TARP since it was in the planning stages.  There were many reasons why I was opposed.  One was the probable loss of some money, and I wondered how long it would take banks to repay the government.  Well, it looks like some banks are ready to repay the money, but the government won't accept it.  Here's and excerpt from an article appearing in the Wall Street Journal:


Here's a true story first reported by my Fox News colleague Andrew Napolitano (with the names and some details obscured to prevent retaliation). Under the Bush team a prominent and profitable bank, under threat of a damaging public audit, was forced to accept less than $1 billion of TARP money. The government insisted on buying a new class of preferred stock which gave it a tiny, minority position. The money flowed to the bank. Arguably, back then, the Bush administration was acting for purely economic reasons. It wanted to recapitalize the banks to halt a financial panic.

Fast forward to today, and that same bank is begging to give the money back. The chairman offers to write a check, now, with interest. He's been sitting on the cash for months and has felt the dead hand of government threatening to run his business and dictate pay scales. He sees the writing on the wall and he wants out. But the Obama team says no, since unlike the smaller banks that gave their TARP money back, this bank is far more prominent. The bank has also been threatened with "adverse" consequences if its chairman persists. That's politics talking, not economics.

Think about it: If Rick Wagoner can be fired and compact cars can be mandated, why can't a bank with a vault full of TARP money be told where to lend? And since politics drives this administration, why can't special loans and terms be offered to favored constituents, favored industries, or even favored regions? Our prosperity has never been based on the political allocation of credit -- until now.


     This looks like stealth nationalization to me.  Taking an ownership stake in companies, controlling salaries and bonuses, and dictating how the companies should be run.  Barack Obama should just leave the Democratic party and run as a socialist in 2012.  At least it would be an honest representation of his beliefs.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879833094588163.html