Free Enterprise Alive and Well

At least for the moment. American businesses are discovering that this whole bailout deal ain't what it was cracked up to be. Offered free money that comes with way too many strings attached, they are starting to choose poverty and the freedom to run their establishments as they see fit. How very American of them!

Elected leaders are translating oversight into complete control, as bureaucrats are wont to do. And the banks, finally learning the terms of the deal they accepted on blind faith, are deciding that they are better equipped to determine how they do business than a bunch of elected buffoons...as well they should.

From the New York Times:

Some Banks, Citing Strings, Want to Return Aid

The list of demands keeps getting longer.

Financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners. They must let shareholders vote on executive pay packages. They must slash dividends, cancel employee training and morale-building exercises, and withdraw job offers to foreign citizens.

[snip]

Some bankers say the conditions have become so onerous that they want to return the bailout money. The list includes small banks like the TCF Financial Corporation of Wayzata, Minn., and Iberia Bank of Lafayette, La., as well as giants like Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

They say they plan to return the money as quickly as possible or as soon as regulators set up a process to accept the refunds. On Tuesday, Signature Bank of New York announced that because of new executive pay restrictions in the economic stimulus package, it notified the Treasury that it intended to return the $120 million it had received from the government only three months ago.

Other institutions like Johnson Bank of Racine, Wis., initially expressed interest in seeking bailout funds but have now changed their minds. Bank executives told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that one reason they rejected the government money was to avoid any disruption in the bank’s role in the local community, including supporting the zoo or opera company if they chose to.

One of the biggest concerns of the banks is that the program lets Congress and the administration pile on new conditions at any time.

The demands to modify mortgages or forestall evictions are especially onerous, some bank executives and experts say, because they could prompt some institutions to take steps that could lead to greater losses.

Imagine that! Americans are being...American! How very refreshing to hear that there are still freedom loving souls out there who believe they are more capable of managing their own affairs than, say, Barney Frank or Chris Dodd. This is real hope and change!