Notes on the Economy

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told rescue overseers Tuesday America’s banks are still broken despite all their bailout billions. So was this a good plan? U.S. banks and other financial institutions could lose an outragous amount of money as much as $2.7 trillion.

They say that confidence in the bailout program is wearing thin on Capitol Hill. Even the bailout supporters are skeptical that Congress, still weary of bankers’ bonuses and still-scarce credit, would approve additional bank rescue money if requested. Why would they.

The government’s effort to stabilize the financial sector and unclog credit markets has come under heavy scrutiny by almost every sector now. Government officials must do a better job in carrying out and explaining its efforts to shore up the financial system. Things don't seem to be working as planned. I thought this whole process was too rushed to begin with and not thought out too well.

People that have consistently paid their bills on time and never missed a payment are seeing the their TARP-assisted banks raising their interest rates and/or slashing their credit lines. Many are getting their credit limits decreased without notice and then on their next bill they get an over limit fee and a notice telling them if they don't pay the over limit amount in full they will get additional charges and late payment penalties.

Some banks are saying they are now making a profit - well after receiving billions of dollars I would hope so. A bank gets $25 billion in bailout money, then taps into $45 billion more and announces they made 1.5 billion in profit. That math does not work with me, don't they need to repay the $60 billion before they can make a real profit? O, I see that profit is only on paper and that bailout money is not included.

Some banks want to pay back some of the bailout money, they are somewhat unhappy with the strings attached. But then Timothy Geithner said that doesn’t mean the government would necessarily accept the repayments- What! I am kinda lost in all this and I am just expressing my opinion - but I think some of our politicians are a little lost. I guess time will tell, but in the end - you and I the taxpayer will be footing this bill. Mr. middle class citizen, your taxes will be rising in a few years - you can bet on it. The country would have been better off and it would have cost less if they put the money in the hands of the people and let them spend it. The only way you get out of a recession is to spend your way out - but it has to be done in a thought out process. If they suspended the middle and lower income families taxes for 6 months, it would have put money in the right peoples hands and the economy would be showing more improvement. Better still it would have cost us less money. Again, just my thoughts and opinions - feel free to have your own - but look at history and study the facts.