Wow. The politicians will attempt to make it seem that they made a sound investments in these banks given that they are getting paid back with interest. ALERT! Review your bank statement and you will notice increased fees, lower savings account interest, and more fees for service.
As usual, we have become the suckers to corporations under direction of a Congress that ensures that corporation’s profits are maximized irrespective of cost to the average American citizens. When will we learn that this type of inequitable capitalism is unsustainable? Is it necessary to completely destroy our middle class before the mathematical reality of this constant transfer of wealth to the top is realized?
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Bank of America Corp. (BAC) has paid back its $45 billion in TARP funds, marking an official end to the Charlotte bank’s most chaotic chapter, in which it counted the U.S. government as a reluctant and hard-nosed investor.
"We owe taxpayers our thanks for making these funds available to the nation’s financial system and to our company during a very difficult time," said outgoing Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, in a statement.
The federal government first injected capital into Bank of America as part of its initial rescue of the entire financial system last year through the Troubled Asset Relief Program; subsequently, it rushed in again to save the bank as it started to crumble under its crisis-hour purchase of Wall Street titan Merrill Lynch & Co.
Lewis may be less grateful behind closed doors. The bank’s final bill for the government’s investment: About $2.7 billion in cash dividends, a difficult and enduring search for a new CEO, and an unquantifiable hit to its reputation.
The easy work for Bank of America was paying Uncle Sam regular cash dividends for its two investments in the bank. In fact, being relieved of that duty will save the bank more than $3.6 billion for all of next year.
But scraping off other residue from the government’s investment will be harder. The bank is midstream in a search for a new CEO after Lewis faced months of scrutiny over his handling of the Merrill Lynch purchase and then said he would retire at year-end. A number of qualified external candidates rebuffed the bank’s overtures and two of the remaining internal candidates – President of Consumer Banking Brian Moynihan and Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl – have faced themselves faced government scrutiny over their own roles in the Merrill deal. [CONTINUED]
2nd UPDATE: Bank Of America Repays $45 Billion In TARP Funds