Remembering Rotten Republicans 1996-2006

Je me souviens, as they say on Quebec's license plates: I remember. If you, my daughter, remember anything about credit from all this, remember the following: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/business/economy/11bank.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Showdown Seen Between Banks and Regulators By STEPHEN LABATON and EDMUND L. ANDREWS Published: April 10, 2009 ...Both large and small banks have pressed the Obama administration to make it less costly for them to exit the bailout program by waiving the right to exercise stock warrants the banks had to grant the government in exchange for the loans. At a meeting last month, the chiefs of three of the largest banks separately asked Mr. Obama to direct the Treasury not to exercise the warrants, Mr. Fine said. Douglas Leech, the founder and chief executive of Centra Bank, a small West Virginia bank that participated in the capital assistance program but returned the money after the government imposed new conditions, said he complained strongly about the Treasury Department’s decision to demand repayment of the warrants. That effectively raised the interest rate he paid on a $15 million loan to an annual rate of about 60 percent, he said. “What they did is wrong and fundamentally un-American,” he said. “Even though the government told us to take this money to increase our lending, the extra charge meant we had less money to lend. It was the equivalent of a penalty for early withdrawal.” Remember that a penalty for early withdrawal is un-American.... even though the banks have no qualms applying it to you or me. Remember it is un-American to have sky high interest rates, even though the Rotten Republican Congress voted to allow credit card companies apply sky high rates to you and I. Remember the Rotten Republicans.