[Shannon]

Interesting article. I hadn't known BB&T was FORCED to take TARP money. From the article:

Mr. Allison says the government forced BB&T and some other healthy banks to accept TARP money to obscure that they were simply trying to save several large banks like Citigroup.

“Everyone thinks we got some kind of subsidy,” he says, noting that his company paid the money back in June, with interest. “It’s going to cost us about $250 million for money we didn’t want.”

Can't help but think that the gov used TARP to rob the banks.

[Vigilanteman]

Gob bless Mr. Allison for being one of the few in the banking industry to stand up to FedGov! BB&T was the first, and maybe, only bank to announce it would not loan money for development of properties confiscated through the legal loophole of the Kelo v. City of New London court ruling.

[BCrago66]

Bank and other financial institutions live under regulatory regimes that allow so much discretion on the part of the regulators, that they can be forced to take actions against their own interests. There’s a constant blackmail/extortion threat.