TARP extended; banks try to leave the program

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended his extension of TARP on Thursday, saying it will help fight foreclosures and increase lending for small businesses. But many banks have already paid back the bulk of their TARP money: Bank of America returned the entirety of its bailout funds on Wednesday, and Citigroup is playing catch-up, trying hard to get out from under government ownership by repaying $45 billion of TARP money. We speak with Andrew Ross Sorkin, chief acquisitions and mergers correspondent for The New York Times and author of “Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System – and Themselves.” We also hear from Richard Bove, an analyst with Rochedale Securities in Lutz, Florida, on whether the paybacks mean the economic crisis is over, or just that banks want out of the program’s regulation.