From various sources, some admittedly, er, less credible than others, it seems
that a number of banks are attempting to return TARP money to the Fed - the gist
of the sorta-rumor being that the 5 being publicized as "paying back" the funds
are smaller banks, with the primary wannabe "returner" being (much?) larger.
Also, it seems uncontroverted-but-uncorroborated (that I've seen, anyway) that
several banks, like Goldman, BofA, etc., are "in talks" to pay back TARP by
year's end. Apparently, some of "return"/repayment/whatever term is being
refused or at least not readily accepted. I've seen "op-ed" type pieces that
address one possible explanation - that banks want out from under the Fed (well,
really, Obama, Timmy, and Congress, specifically) and would rather be in trouble
one way than what they perceive as the other - sort of a "the devil you know is
better than the one you don't" sort of thing. OTOH, I've also seen the case
made that the refusals are justified because the banks actually _need_ the money
to loan out, etc. and if they simply return it and tread water, there will be no
"stimulus" provided to "help the economy 'recover.'" At least one piece is
claiming it's because Obama and Timmy want to control the banks and this would
obviously be pretty big leverage in such an alleged attempt.

If there is anything to any of it (and I suspect there is at least something to
much of it), this could get interesting...