Bank Whining

So you have a family emergency and go borrow some money from a bank. But when the emergency is past and you are able to repay, you complain about the agreed upon terms for repayment. Think the bank will simply say "Oh, fine, just ignore the paper you signed..?" Now read this story in today's N.Y. Times. The tables have turned, and some of the banks that took bailout money are complaining about the agreement they signed. And in a related note, now that Wells Fargo has posted a net profit of $3-Billion for their first 2009 quarter, is it time they start paying back some of the $25-Billion they took in taxpayer bailout money? And by the way, did you know that Southern banks got more money than those in any other region? And Alabama was on top of the list...even though Senators Sessions and Shelby were screaming the loudest about the "bailout"? The Wall Street Journal has an interactive map you can use to go state by state.

Paul Krugman argues that the partial solution to this banking abyss is to "make banking boring again." I think most of us would be glad to return to a time when a toaster was about the most exciting thing that might happen in your relationship with a bank.