Recently, Wells Fargo posted a $3 billion profit for the first quarter. Awesome! We need banks that score profits. That's what a responsible business does. But balance that against this statement: Wells Fargo Co. (WFC) CEO John Stumpf on Tuesday defended the company's decision to accept $25 billion from a government fund meant for distressed banks and said the company will "earn its way out" of the situation. At that rate of profit, that means that every penny of Wells Fargo's profits for the next two years will be required to pay back the TARP money.Keep in mind that this all seems like a lot of money. How does a trillion sound? A trillion is a million millions. And we're spending trillions of dollars at the national level. Do you know how long it would take Wells Fargo - a huge and successful bank by any standard - to pay pay back a trillion dollars? 83 years. Every penny of profit for 83 years. If you think it's responsible for the government to be spending trillions of dollars, to be paid back by our kids, you're either really bad at math, or you are immoral for the hurt you promote to our children. |