It’s payback time. Now that “green shoots” are everywhere, many banks, big or small, want to return the TARP money. It seems to me this government effort rescuing the financial system is pretty much like miracle, only 6 months ago, I remember it was like the sky was falling. Now everyone is healthy, at least healthy enough to get government out of the board room. But there are a few twists on returning TARP money.

1) Returning money is not as easy as getting it (AP news). Paulson pretty much forced the big banks to take the money. As to return, the banks have to prove they can stand alone (without the help from government). One example of standalone means they can issue debt without FDIC gurantee.

2) Also, the government faces a choice of how to deal with the money being returned? I have not read the original bill, but I can fully understand the congress, and Paulson & associates did not expect the money being returned that fast, they probably did not expect the money being returned at the time. Now Mr. Geithner is act in ad hoc way again, he is saying the money can go back to community bank (AP news again). But, with the recent stigma attached to the TARP, and pending government intervention on executive compensation, who would want to take money from the Uncle Sam???

PS, the T-mobile Nokia 1661 arrived. I immediately slip my current T-mobile SIM card, and it worked. More interestingly, the FM radio works.