The "TARP Re-Investment" Program: Fascism

It's fascism if you accept the definition that fascism aligns gummint, commerce, and labor--by force.

Or you could simply recall other highly successful directed bank-lending programs.

President Barack Obama will propose on Tuesday using $30 billion from the TARP bank bailout program for a small business lending fund to try to spur job growth in a critical sector of the U.S. economy.

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The program would be limited to smaller or community banks, those with $10 billion in assets or less, according to senior officials, who briefed reporters before the announcement

...banks with $1 billion in assets or less could get up to 5 percent of risk-related capital, and pay a dividend rate of 5 percent. But the dividend rate could be as low as 1 percent if the banks were to increase small business lending by 10 percent, the officials said.

Well, OK. The rest of the story? That 'investment' is the camel's nose. If the Feds do not choose to call it 'ownership,' it's certainly a claim on management's attention, right?

Have you heard of the Community Re-investment Act (CRA) of Jimmuh Carter?