Asian Conservatives

Oh it’s silly, really. Levying a tax — ahem, fee — on the 50 largest banks in the name of fairness to the American taxpayers. President Obama floated the idea of a bank fee to punish the financial institutions for getting us into so much financial trouble, and justifiably so, to get back TARP money [...]

House members continue to point their fingers at those obscenely wealthy and undeserving Wall Street CEOs. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and his committee has a problem with their fat bonuses:
Four of the financial titans answered one pointed question after another on bonuses and compensation Thursday before a congressionally created Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
Almost simultaneously, House [...]

Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department “pay czar,” ordered a major reduction in the compensation of top earners at Wall Street firms which received TARP funds:
The plan, for the 25 top earners at seven companies that received exceptional help, will on average cut total compensation this year by about 50 percent. The companies are Citigroup, Bank [...]

Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme cost his clients nearly $65 billion. He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison now.
But every taxpayer should be appalled by what is discovered by TARP Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky regarding the $700 billion federal economic rescue package to banks. The audit finds Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson misled [...]

First, the bank executives. Then the management at Chrysler and General Motors. Now in the heat of the health care debate, the Democrats have set their targets on insurance companies. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is submitting a letter requesting 52 insurance companies to provide details on how money is being spent, be it compensation or [...]

The fear-mongering from the Obama administration led a hurried passing of TARP without proper scrutiny by Congress or citizens. Now it’s clear that the stimulus isn’t working as unemployment numbers leap past the administration’s prediction and V.P. Biden coming out to admit the administration “misread” the economy. According to the government and market analysts, the [...]

Vice President Joe Biden tells ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that everyone (the administration, really) were too optimistic about the economy back when TARP was being debated. The Obama administration predicted unemployment to peak at 8 percent, but now it’s 9.5 percent, and that number will likely rise in the immediate future.
So knowing this and admitting [...]

As many as 10 banks are ready to repay TARP loans to the delight of the Obama administration, which using the news to justify its hurried push of the under-scrutinized TARP legislation and to underscore a recovering economy. It’s truly great news that these banks are back on their feet and are able to pay [...]

Why would the White House refuse TARP repayment from banks? After all, it’s millions and trillions of dollars we’re talking about, not exactly pocket change.
Could it be that the administration wants to maintain power over these TARP recipients? This is very troublesome to know. It clearly shows the administration intends to push its own economic [...]

The government has successfully put a limit on top executives working in firms receiving bailout money. Now Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) wants more control in how all employees of these firms are paid:
But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in [...]

There has been a lot of interest in the constitutionality of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) and the TARP funds. I see a lot of Internet searches about this. George Will has a very good piece in the Washington Post about this topic:
By enacting it, Congress did not in any meaningful sense [...]

In the latest development stemming from the AIG executive compensation mess, Congress passes a bill to tax at a higher rate of executives and employees of companies receiving TARP funds. The Democrats are eager to clean up this mess, therefore wasting no time to draft this legislation and put it to a vote.
But aside from [...]

CEO Ken Lewis now says it was a “tactical mistake” to ask the government for $20 billion to absorb Merrill Lynch because now Bank of America appears to be in the same crappy category as Citigroup.
I blame President “Doom & Gloom” Obama. He probably scared the wits out of Lewis. And now look at the [...]

Albany is abuzz with Gov. Paterson’s pick for New York’s senate seat to replace now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Caroline Kennedy’s out of the race. Democrats predict State A.G. Andrew Cuomo.
But looks like Paterson throws a curve ball — it’s Kirsten Gillibrand, considered by many to be a moderate Democrat. She’s won elections with [...]

President Bush, soon to leave office amid lowest approval ratings, seems to be unconcerned about leaving a bad taste in taxpayers’ mouths and is ignoring signals sent from his party members in Congress. Why else would he approve a $17 billion rescue package for G.M. and Chrysler when the Senate killed its version of bailout? [...]