Five years have passed since the government bailed out more than 700 banks, and now that the government wants its money back, community banks are struggling to raise the cash to pay. The Los Angeles Times explains:
Banks will soon have to face a significant increase in the annual dividend they must pay the government on its investment, as the government looks to close out the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"If the question is how many of these guys are going to walk away from their debt, I don't think that's going to happen," said Chief Executive Jeff Rigsby of CB Resource Inc., a San Juan Capistrano bank-consulting firm. "We do have some little guys where you wonder how they could ever recapitalize and stay independent."
