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Bankers Lobbying to Get Best Terms on Government Bailout

Bankers Lobbying to Get Best Terms on Government Bailout

Author: Sol Nasisi on September 22, 2008

It's outrageous. The bankers, who have royally screwed up the system are now lobbying Congress hard to get the very best terms they can on the deal. It's a free county and that's there right, but Congress should realize whose money it's playing with.

As the details of the massive $700 billion bank bailout becomes clearer, the banks are putting on a high powered lobbying effort to secure the best possible terms on the deal. According to hte WSJ, this lobbying includes:

1, Expanding the bailout to foreign banks that have a large US exposure.

2. Changing the way the distressed assets are accounted for to make them more valuable to the banks, forcing the goverment to buy them for more money.

3. Eliminating any breaks for consumers.

This should be an unconditional surrender. The government should tell the banks, "these are the terms, take them or leave them." I don't think the banks realize that the rules of the game have changed and they are no longer calling the shots. It was, after all the banks who lobbied against any reform of Fannie and Freddie (look where that got us), the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act, the change in bankruptcy law which hurts consumers as well as the banks, etc.

Sol Nasisi: Sol Nasisi is the co-founder and a past president of BestCashCow, an online resource for comprehensive bank rate information. In this capacity, he closely followed rate trends for all savings-related and loan products and the impact of rate fluctuations on the economy. He specifically focused on how rates impact consumers' ability to borrow and save. He also has authored a wee

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