Posted on Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 by Sam
Is the economy on the brink of recovery? It’s tough to tell, but there are some positive signs we are seeing. Take for example the bailout money paid to the banks. The Federal Reserve recently gave permission to ten of the financial institutions that received bailout money to pay it back. American Express was one of these companies. It recently repurchased the $3.39 billion in preferred shares it previously sold to the treasury. This repurchase, however, did not include the outstanding warrants still owned by the Treasury Department.
Over $68 billion in TARP funds is being paid back from the nation’s largest banks. However, there is much scrutiny over the motives behind the repayments. The bailout money came with restrictions on executive compensation and it’s well known fact that is one of the reasons these banks are so anxious to pay it back. This is especially obvious considering that these funds are not from internal sources, but rather money the banks raised from private investors across the globe.
What do you think? Should the banks have been allowed to pay back the bailout money so they could forgo the restrictions on executive pay?
Tags: american express, bailout, tarp funds
Posted in News | Comments (3)
June 24th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
They should not be allowed to pay it back until they fix the credit markets IMO.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:19 am
The whole thing IS a swindle honestly. I mean the whole reason they want to pay back the money is because they want their big fat pay checks back. They feel they should be earning their million dollar paydays while the credit markets are tight and the shareholders have lost most of their money. What a crock.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I love my Amex cards!