Read my lips

Friday, December 11, 2009 one of the largest banks in America, Citigroup, announced that it would pay back the remaining 20 Billion dollars it borrowed from the TARP fund. The reason: Too many government restrictions. It is uncertain if they plan to pay any interest on the money that they borrowed. Interest at 10%, which is very low for the riskiness of the investment, would be about 4B for the 18 month loan term.

On top of the 20B that Citigroup plans to repay, the US government now owns a 34% stake in the banking giant. They plan to sell their stake over the next 6-12 months. That brings the total borrowed by Citigroup to about 45B and the US government estimates a net gain of 6.7B.

Most other large banks that took TARP money have repaid the government as well. JP Morgan Chase & Wells Fargo are a few of the banks that have already paid back the government. Turns out that they didn’t like all of the extra government imposed rules either. Kudos to the banks for paying back the money that they never should have needed, but at least they paid it back.

Now that the banks, the main target group for TARP, has or is in the process of paying the money back a few questions are raised. If banks are viable enough now to pay back the money, are other companies that received money paying it back? Does the government count the money paid back as more money available to pay out or are they being fiscally responsible and holding on to the money that no one had to lend in the first place? And finally, if the banks and other critical parts of the economy are functioning again, is it time to stop handing out the money even though there are billions that still haven’t been handed out?

Ask your friends and family and you will find that America is pleading and hoping that the government will STOP distributing the TARP and Stimulus. They also want everyone who received money to have the moral courage to step up and pay it back with interest. It really comes down to the average American who will end up paying for the continued lack of fiscal responsibility. The choices we make today as a country will determine in large part, who and what kind of country we will become. The choice is clear.

READ my lips, Stop TARP and Stimulus. We must stop them or we will face huge tax increases or wild inflation. We can't afford to raise taxes. People are still losing houses and jobs at an alarming rate and handing out more TARP and Stimulus money will just increase the burden of paying the money back. Taxes are bad and inflation is probably worse. If you don’t believe me do a quick Google search on inflation in post WWII Germany. Both are bad. Bad for America, bad for our future. Let’s make hard decisions today so we don’t have to deal with either.

I love America. I love what it stands for. I want its future to be even better than our amazing past. I want a future I can believe in, not a promise of bigger or complete government. That is not America, it is not what we represent nor is it where our brightest future lays.

Write your elected officials today and ask them to stand up and stop the bleeding in American politics. Ask them to make the right decisions for America even if it means that they won’t get elected. Ask them be fiscally responsible and repeal the TARP and stimulus bills so no more money we don’t have gets handed out.

We can still save our future but we have to act now. With your help and the help of people all across America we can make America the place we continue to be proud to be a part of.