GM announced a few days ago that it is "repaying in full" its government loans. And then the tooth fairy left a nickel...
Let's face the facts. The only reason GM has ANY money is that Congress allowed the company to recast $43.3 billion of the $50 billion bailout as an equity investment. This left the company with a meager $6.7 billion loan, which it repaid with (you guessed it) some of the $43.3 billion in equity investment. Nice trick. So with the help of smoke and mirrors, WE were repaid with our OWN money. And the public is placated with a well-crafted story of improved management results, a story the media isn’t challenging.
Then along comes Citi, crafting a story about their yippity-skippity breakthrough. Let's do the math. If you could rig a deal where as a "government-sponsored enterprise" you could borrow at next to nothing and then invest the proceeds in 4.5 percent Treasuries, could you mess that up?
As a citizen and a taxpayer, I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more. Worst of all, the whole charade is being carried out on the backs of the honest, hardworking "real bankers"—those making loans to the small businesses that are keeping this country afloat. If there was ever a reason to vote out incumbents who concocted this outlandish plan and funded it with our taxpayer money, this is it.
And now, the Goldman debacle has opened the door for more government control.
Whoa, cowboy. At some point we need to call a spade a spade—the "Too Big to Fail" bunch are front men for the government. Antitrust isn't being mentioned. I guess that wouldn't allow for the smoke and mirrors the government needs to keep gaining more control.
It's been a few years since I visited a bank in Canada. At the time there were five. You heard me right: five banks in the entire country. The client experience resembled an outing to your friendly Department of Motor Vehicles, and it looks as if we're on the same path, IF we sit back and wait for "somebody" to fix this mess.
It's time for YOU to get in the media. The media do not have the facts straight and isn't challenging the beautifully crafted PR statements of the "Too Big to Fail" lot.
Time for you to become a media star. If you're not doing at least one radio, television or newspaper interview each month, you're at source for this mess. In times like these, you should be doing several each week. Get moving! Precious time is wasting. Tell the story of what is happening so we can stop this craziness before it goes too far.
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Roxanne Emmerich, President and CEO of The Emmerich Group, Inc., is America's leading expert at helping banks create immediate and sustainable performance breakthroughs. She is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Thank God It's Monday: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love and Profit-Growth Banking—proclaimed to be the "bible of successful banking." Visit www.ThankGoditsMonday.com and www.EmmerichFinancial.com to sign up for the free reports, tools, and ezines or call 1-952-820-0360 for ideas on how you can start your breakthrough.
Do not produce without written permission from Roxanne Emmerich and The Emmerich Group, Inc. (800) 236-5885.
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