Pandit: Happy To Be Out of Obama's Clutches
Eager to rid itself of the government’s onerous restrictions on compensation, management and risk taking, Citi has finally decided to repay some $20 billion in aid by replacing it with private investments.
Pandit said about the decision:
We owe the American taxpayers a debt of gratitude and recognize our obligation to support the economic recovery through lending and assistance to homeowners and other borrowers in need
Wells Fargo is also in the process of repaying its own loan. The company’s CEO pointed out the financial benefits of the arrangement for the government:
TARP stabilized our country’s financial system when confidence in financial markets around the world was being tested unlike any other period in our history…
Its success also generated financial returns for taxpayers, including 1.4 billion dollars in dividends paid to the US Treasury
So the government has making a decent buck from its investments in the banks – where has it all disappeared? Taxpayers should be given tax breaks, if nothing else.
