Little-Acorn
03-11-2009, 11:16 AM
It's an old, old story. He who pays the piper, calls the tune. When you accept somebody's money, they usually reserve the right to tell you how to run your affairs. The Federal government has been doing it to states for decades, imposing new rules on states that accept Federal funds. Now they are doing it to private companies.
It's not dissimilar to what the Mafia typically does to businesses, through loansharking. They get someone in debt to them, and then start putting their own people on boards of directors, getting "protection" payments from worried (to say the least) officials, etc., until they practically run the business.
Why should the U.S. government shy away from such a well-proven business model?
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/10/business/banks.php
U.S. banks may pay dearly for government aid
By Stephen Labaton
Published: March 11, 2009
WASHINGTON: The list of demands keeps getting longer.
U.S. financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners. They must let shareholders vote on executive pay packages. They must lower dividends, cancel employee training and morale-boosting exercises, and withdraw job offers to foreign citizens.
As public outrage swells over the rapidly growing cost of bailing out financial institutions, the administration of President Barack Obama and lawmakers are attaching more and more strings to rescue funds. Some experts say the conditions are necessary to prevent Wall Street executives from paying lavish bonuses and buying corporate jets, but others say the conditions go beyond protecting taxpayers and border on social engineering.
Some bankers say the conditions have become so onerous that they want to give the bailout money back. The list includes small banks like TCF Financial of Wayzata, Minnesota, and Iberiabank of Lafayette, Louisiana, as well as giants like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank in San Francisco. They say they plan to return the money as quickly as possible, or as soon as regulators set up a process to accept the repayments.
It's not dissimilar to what the Mafia typically does to businesses, through loansharking. They get someone in debt to them, and then start putting their own people on boards of directors, getting "protection" payments from worried (to say the least) officials, etc., until they practically run the business.
Why should the U.S. government shy away from such a well-proven business model?
------------------------------------------------
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/10/business/banks.php
U.S. banks may pay dearly for government aid
By Stephen Labaton
Published: March 11, 2009
WASHINGTON: The list of demands keeps getting longer.
U.S. financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners. They must let shareholders vote on executive pay packages. They must lower dividends, cancel employee training and morale-boosting exercises, and withdraw job offers to foreign citizens.
As public outrage swells over the rapidly growing cost of bailing out financial institutions, the administration of President Barack Obama and lawmakers are attaching more and more strings to rescue funds. Some experts say the conditions are necessary to prevent Wall Street executives from paying lavish bonuses and buying corporate jets, but others say the conditions go beyond protecting taxpayers and border on social engineering.
Some bankers say the conditions have become so onerous that they want to give the bailout money back. The list includes small banks like TCF Financial of Wayzata, Minnesota, and Iberiabank of Lafayette, Louisiana, as well as giants like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank in San Francisco. They say they plan to return the money as quickly as possible, or as soon as regulators set up a process to accept the repayments.