Bailout Boomerangs

Banks, as you may have heard, are giving the TARP money back to the government as fast as they can gather the cash. Why, you ask? Weren't they SO desperate for bailout money in the FIRST place?

The reason? Unintended consequences, of course. They always crop up.

Banks and other businesses who took TARP money are finding extreme restrictions bestowed upon them--the government became a not-so-silent partner in everyday decision-making, and was encouraging banks and other businesses to make unsound decisions and partake in risky actions...pretty much like they did BEFORE the TARP money came around.

I guess it's different when Uncle Sam is telling you to roll the dice or give them back, so banks and other businesses are giving them back.

Every single business decision became a political one. Can you imagine having Congress as your Board of Directors? That, in essence, is what happened.

My question and pondering thought for the day: if BUSINESSES are making this wonderful discovery that having government influence isn't such a good thing, when are INDIVIDUALS going to figure out the same thing when they realize THEIR bailout money (unemployment, food stamps, welfare, COBRA extensions, and the coming "universal" assortments of health care, savings, and god knows what else) also comes with strings that choke and strangle?

I can't wait for the day when they begin giving them back...in the form of higher taxes. Just wait until about 2010 or so--it's coming. AMT for everyone!

You always get what you pay for, and you always pay for what you get--eventually.