I was wondering when Timothy Geithner would come out and say: No, no, no, you are not free to go. This morning the Wall Street Journal reports:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner indicated that the health of individual banks won’t be the sole criterion for whether financial firms will be allowed to repay bailout funds, a position that might complicate their efforts to give back the cash.
It is not clear what this is all about, except a need for power. On the other hand, this should send a strong signal to financial institutions never to participate in Treasury programs again because once you take the money, though the Treasury and Congress might change the rules of the game several times without your approval, you can never get out.
By the way, I wonder whether this has someting to do with why Chrysler turned down a government loan and opted to use more expensive private financing rather than accept government’s terms?