Barney Frank Enjoys Neutering Bank Execs

Bank CEOs were hauled up to congress to face their new overlords on the House Banking Committee, and Rep. Barney Frank enjoys throwing his new power around:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) criticized bankers Wednesday for complaining about government restrictions, saying they will be out of the “driver’s seat” when the economy turns around.

During an interview on CNBC, Frank said that the TARP-assisted banks need to demonstrate that they have changed in order to play “a role” in the economic recovery.

“They have to convince people that they’ve learned enough from the mistakes they’ve made so that we can work together going forward with them not in the driver’s seat, but inevitably playing a role so we can fix things,” he said.

The Democrat scoffed at criticism of government overreach in regulating financial institutions, stating that if bankers could not handle the “terrible inhibition” they could give the money back.

This is so outrageous because none of these bank CEOs would have been there had Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and other Dems not guaranteed the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by blocking any attempts at reform. They placed making loans to unqualified people over fiscal sanity and destroyed the banking industry in the process.

If anybody ought to be sitting in a witness stand somewhere, it's Frank.