Maybe on topic... depending what the topic was... Considering the Republicans did anything and everything they could do to weaken the stimulus package, I wouldn't be surprised if it's failing.
Also,
Emergency spending, Aard.
The interesting thing about that is the majority has been repaid and the remainder will also be repaid in due time. In the long-term, it was probably a <$50m loss (thanks to inflation).
Wha??? When did this happen?
You really didn't hear about all of this? A lot of financial corporations converted to bank holding companies in order to have access to that (original) batch of money. $800-900b could be borrowed for a lower rate than from other lenders and with much lower interest payments. However, taking the money meant that they were required to adhere to a hodgepodge of laws including limitations on corporate reimbursement. Anyways, they took the money for a few months to bolster liquid assets. Most of it had been repaid last I heard a few months ago. It did get things rolling a bit for venture capitalist firms as well as allow other companies to start lending and others to start borrowing. Many of the best companies, such as Goldman Sacks, took the money to keep their financial ratios in balance and thus perform better coming out of 2008 and into 2009.
The surviving companies are on much better footing now. What I'm really curious about is how Obama's new limits on consumer borrowing and fees associated will do to these major companies' bottom lines as well as their survivability. Banks typically make the majority of their revenue from service fees--not just late fees, but also on commercial services. As a consumer, I'm happy that Obama's revising the laws so that we're not screwed out of $30+ because we missed by $0.10. The new limits basically say that the fee cannot exceed the amount--so instead of $20-40 fee for missing by $0.10, you now owe the bank $0.20 ($0.10 missed plus $0.10 fee). I haven't read the full law so I don't know what the limit will be, but people who miss by tens or hundreds of dollars might have a fee of the same amount.
