Now that Northern Bank’s been busted for hosting a golf tournament, the other bank lemmings are lining up to do their part. Today, Morgan Stanley said it will not entertain clients and executives at a pro tournament in June. The bank still plans to sponsor the event. Wells Fargo is doing something similar.
Wells Fargo simply said it’s cutting spending on the Wachovia Championship PGA tournament in April.
This all came about because members of Congress ranted over Northern Bank’s spending on a company-sponsored tournament this month. Northern got $1.6 billion through TARP. Senator John Kerry says he plans to file a bill that will end the “extravagant spending practices of U.S. banks” that receive taxpayer bailouts:
“I’m sick and tired of picking up the newspaper and reading about another idiotic abuse of taxpayer money while our country is on the brink,” Kerry said.
While the banks still seem to be kind of clueless, that’s uh, par for the recent course. I think I’m going to side with Dilbert on this one:
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