On which side is Barney Frank (Massachusetts Four [1])? The Treasury Department pressures a perfectly sound financial institution to take federal TARP funds, and Frank uses that as excuse to terrorize the bank, Tom Petruno, Los Angeles Times [2], :
The Chicago bank, which got $1.6 billion of taxpayer funds under the government’s financial-system rescue plan last year, said Friday that it was talking to its regulators “with the goal of repaying [the] funds as quickly and prudently as possible.”
[…]
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote to Northern Trust this week demanding that the bank pay back what it spent on the golf tournament.
Background, Tom Maquire, Just One Minute [3], on why Northern Trust took TARP money:
Can I answer two questions with two questions? First, does Ms. Dowd even bother to read the Times? If she did she would have learned [4] that in order to avoid creating any stigma associated with taking TARP funds, the Feds exhorted seemingly healthy banks to take some cash. Treasury and Fed officials seem to think that they can better maintain confidence in the banking system if the list of TARP recipients is not viewed as an excellent proxy for a list of banks likely to fail. Go figure.
My second question is, does Ms. Dowd have any familiarity at all with Google? If she did she would have learned that Nothern Trust focuses on trust services and wealth management [5] rather than mortgage and commercial lending, their prospects are excellent [6],
Hugh S, Wizbang [7] concludes:
You think? I noted on Thursday [8] that financial institutions are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the unstable and emotional outbursts by Democrat House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA). Yesterday Northern Trust, which honored a two year old contract to sponsor last week’s Northern Trust Open, announced that it will pay back [9] the TARP funds rather than operate under the thumb of the House Financial Services dictator.
If Barack Obama wants to reverse the direction of the nation’s economy, he had best tell Mrs. Pelosi to find somebody fit to run the Financial Services Committee.