Published: March 23, 2009

Any good news these days — not that there is much — seems to come with an asterisk. The market is popping, but, as some bears ask, is it just a setup for another bigger fall?

So here’s something else to ponder: Goldman Sachs is planning to give back its TARP money soon. Very soon, actually — ideally within the next month, according to people involved in the process. That’s a much quicker timetable than the end-of-year goal previously set out by Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’s chief executive. As taxpayers, we should be thrilled that Goldman is going to quickly pay back the $10 billion it was given last October, right?

Well, not so fast.

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The article goes on to say that Goldman Sachs is considering giving the money back in part because of the uproar over AIG’s bonuses.  They can afford to seeing how they have $100 BILLION in available cash.  I guess they don’t need our paltry $10 billion after all.

But, here’s the problem with them giving it back early. Other banks who can ill afford to pay the money back will try to do so in order not to look weak.  If that happens then we are right back where we started.