It would seem that Wall Street just can’t do right in Obama’s eyes no matter what it does. Obama stated in an interview with CBS’s Steve Kroft for ’60 Minutes’ that the motivation behind repaying Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was to be able to pay themselves bonuses. In reality the banks see the increasing regulation and restrictions coming down the pipeline and are trying to prepare themselves for the nation’s financial-regulatory apparatus overhaul in one way or another. A lot of people are joining the “hate Wall Street” bang wagon, but it’s really important to note that not all banks are bad and not all banks were involved in the sub-prime lending activities that caused much of the financial failures. There are many loopholes in the upcoming 239-page amendment to the U.S. House of Representatives’ financial regulatory overhaul on banks that will allow some banks to get away unscathed and other parts of that legislation will hurt or penalize the good banks with the bad ones indiscriminately. As it is now, this administration has already overstepped its constitutional powers by overtaking GM and other private businesses; where does this private sector takeover stop?
CBS's Steve Kroft and President Obama
It seems a little odd to hear such heavy criticism on financial matters coming from a President who has spent more in one year than any past President in American history, and who has grown the federal government in size and power considerably at the expense of the American taxpayers. Regardless of who is pointing the finger and placing blame, it is a fact that under Obama’s watch, the federal government shoved hundreds of billions of dollars in the faces of some of the nation’s biggest banks in an effort to prop up the financial sector; with all the strings fully attached. It’s also important to note that many of those banks didn’t need or want the funds and felt the money was forced onto them. Some refused to accept TARP funds wearily under the fear that they would be criticized or retaliated against by their regulators.
U.S. banks were and still are at a big disadvantage against foreign banks, which don’t face the same restrictions that the various stimulus programs impose. At a time when the economy is hurting and unemployment rates are soaring, why would anyone in this administration feel that it’s a good idea to over regulate banks and financial institutions, almost forcing them to move their operations overseas to avoid the additional restrictions. It happened with the manufacturing industry, do we not think that it could happen with the financial industry as well?
Liberal members on Congress want to brand the private banking industry leaders as “fat cats” and the “evil lenders”, but then still refuse to look into the actions of our nations main bank, the Federal Reserve. How ironic.