The term sheet for the TARP explains when a recipient may repay the money early:
Senior Preferred may not be redeemed for a period of three years from the date of this investment, except with the proceeds from a Qualified Equity Offering (as defined below) which results in aggregate gross proceeds to the QFI of not less than 25% of the issue price of the Senior Preferred.
…
“Qualified Equity Offering†shall mean the sale by the QFI after the date of this investment of Tier 1 qualifying perpetual preferred stock or common stock for cash.
Goldman Sachs received $10 billion from the TARP, so to repay it, they must first raise at least 25% of that in a private offering.
Goldman Sachs to Sell $5 Billion in Stock, Repay TARP (Bloomberg)
So let me get this straight. Goldman Sachs has issued tens of billions of dollars of debt insured by the FDIC. They have access to the TSLF, TAF, and the good old-fashioned discount window, where they can borrow at half a percent or less to finance their long-term investments. And of course, they received at least $13 billion in taxpayer money via AIG. (That certainly helps to explain the profits this quarter.)
But if they repay the TARP — just the TARP — they will be freed from any meddling government interference in, say, their executive compensation. And that is precisely what they are about to do. After all, these are the smartest people in the world; you cannot hire someone like that for a mere six or seven figures.
Ahhh, American capitalism at its finest. We truly have the best government money can buy.
Related:
Government Sachs is in control
www.goldmansachs666.com – This guy is stark raving mad, but that does not make him wrong. And he received a cease&desist order from GS itself, so go give him some page hits.
Update
See also the case of the missing month. I couldn’t make this stuff up.
If you know anyone on a repo desk with good contacts they may quietly confirm that while Goldman was paying lip service in support of Bear Stearns publicly last winter, they were pulling financing lines and feeding the panic privately…good risk management or the devil…I’m not sure which. (btw, I’m not a conspiracy theorist.)
“And he received a cease&desist order from GS itself, so go give him some page hits.”
This link will work (you left out the www):
http://www.goldmansachs666.com/
Link works for me; it just redirects… But I changed it anyway. Thanks.
The month is fantastic, because GS blames it on bank regulators. As if the situation were reversed, and the missing month were crucial to showing a good performance, we wouldn’t (a) see the rule waived; (b) hear constantly about December anyway.
To me the biggest scam is the ZeroHedge email – http://tauntermedia.com/2009/03/30/scam-now-with-smoke/ – that no one seems to have discussed. “How much of your profitability came from all aspects of your relationship with AIG – not just CDS payouts, but plain buying assets they were selling and marking them up?”
The $5 billion GS common stock offering was good news for US taxpayers. See http://www.businessinsider.com/goldmans-tarp-payback-is-a-win-win-for-taxpayers-2009-4.
Did you see the NYT article today on Goldman and the FDIC bonds?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/business/economy/15bank.html?_r=1&ref=business
more on the AIG klepto extrvaganza that “taunter” references, above.
AIG has been kept alive the way a certain species of wasp paralyzes a host (say, a spider) to lay its eggs in, so they can gorge on it after being born.
The present Sachian economic policy of the United States will not survive very long. The breakdown crisis is accelerating (outside of the accounting tricks distractions), and we will soon (well, maybe not “soon” measured in blog-time, but soon enough) see a departure from these disastrous policies. This is no depression; this is a total worldwide breakdown crisis.
The dollar-denominated debt in the world is the largest factor, and therefore the ability to recover and restart and to reorganize international trade, depends on a reorganization of the role of the dollar, which means ending the world monetary system in its present form, and going to an international credit system, under which a fixed exchange rate among sovereign nation states will be the basis for turning the dollar-denominated debt in the world back into something which is of value for the world as a whole. We must turn that indebtedness, denominated in dollars, into an asset for long-term growth of trade and investment and develop.
We need imagination, and good sense combined. (We have more than the cartel press and media would have people see.)
The United States is crucial, because of her constitutional structure. At root, there is no oligarchical tradition in the United States, as in Europe, for example. The United States at foundation possesses a constitutional system which is the best in the world in terms of its utility. Unfortunately, a large mass of people in the United States who are somewhat powerful and influential do not represent that very well, as they are predatory beasts. But if we react to this crisis by recognizing what the problem is, and recognize that the present international monetary financial system can. not. survive…There is no way that anyone can reform the present international monetary system and have the people survive–we simply face the necessity of a fundamental revolution, which can be made, simply by treaty agreements, and changing the world system, from a monetary system, to a credit system.
If we change to a credit system, that is, using long-term credit agreements among sovereign nation states—we can create a new kind of international economy, to replace the present usurious monetary system, which has been dominating for a long time. That means: long-term credit, commitments for large-scale infrastructure development, power, sanitation, transportation, and increasing of the conditions for productivity… over the next generation or two… worldwide.
It’s going to be tough. This financier interest typified by, but hardly limited to, Goldman Sucks, is determined not to allow its way of life, its way of rule, to be disturbed. Sorry guys; everything always changes. You’ll come to count yourselves lucky you were not thrown in a dungeon.