"Not specifically," Kashkari replied. "It's very hard for us to try to micromanage and say this is how you should run your business, because each bank and each community is a little bit different. So we wanted to work with the regulators to identify the healthy banks, put capital in on the same terms, and then create the economic incentives for them to want to go make new loans."Bachus, in an interview, contrasted the bank application process to the paces Congress put the auto industry through when Detroit's Big Three automakers asked for financial relief.
"Automobile companies came to the Congress for four lengthy hearings," Bachus said. "They were told, 'We're not going to even consider giving you money unless you tell us everything you're going to do to return to profitability.'"
Of course, General Motors and Chrysler were pleading for their lives. The bank capitalization program is designed only for financially stable institutions.
But for Steve Ellis, vice president of the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense, there's that two-page application.
"It's still somewhat shocking to the senses," he said, "when you think that credit card applications are a heck of a lot longer than that."
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