Recently, the New York Post ran an article in their financial section showing some of the aspects of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that the public was not totally aware of. The article sites the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America as an example of parts of the program not made clear to the public.
Kenneth Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, received a subpoena from Andrew Cuomo to testify under oath about the merger. Andrew Cuomo was not expecting to find what the testimony uncovered. According to the article:
"As the Cuomo documents revealed, Lewis admitted that he was repeatedly implored by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to take on the Merrill mess in order to prevent a "systemic failure" that would bring the financial system to its knees."
This is government interference in a private corporation. The government felt entitled to do this because the bank had taken TARP money. Banks all over the country are trying to return TARP money because the rules have changed since they were encouraged to take it. The government is attempting to take over the management of our banks, and the government in its history has never managed anything well.
We need to get back to letting private enterprise be private enterprise!!
Leave a comment