Banks Learn There's No Free Lunch - Will The Rest of America Learn?

Banks are now falling all over themselves to pay back TARP funds. I know second-hand of one regional bank president who told his staff late last year that they would take TARP money even though they didn't need it since "everyone else is taking it so we should as well". That bank repaid its funds well over a month ago after finding out the increasing number of strings that were attached.

And that's the thing that Americans aren't learning. Every time the government gives you something - money, loans, "free" health care - there WILL be strings attached to it. Unpleasant ones. Because once you've accepted the government's money, you've given them power over you, and the government will work hard to slowly increase that power once they have it.

And that should be the really scary thing about any government health care proposal: the strings that will be added slowly and steadily over time.