I’ve heard a lot of backpedaling stories and whiny reasons why companies took the government’s offer for bailout money, but this one takes the cake.

Wells Fargo & Co. Chairman Richard Kovacevich criticized the U.S. for retroactively adding curbs to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which he said forced the bank to cut its dividend, and called the administration’s plan for stress-testing banks “asinine.”

When the U.S. Treasury persuaded the nation’s nine biggest banks to accept capital investments in October, it signaled the whole industry was weak, Kovacevich, 65, said in a March 13 speech at Stanford University in California. Even though Wells Fargo didn’t want the money, it must comply with the same rules that the government placed on banks that did need it, he said.

“Is this America — when you do what your government asks you to do and then retroactively you also have additional conditions?” Kovacevich said. “If we were not forced to take the TARP money, we would have been able to raise private capital at that time” and not needed to cut the dividend to preserve cash, he said.

Wells Fargo was forced to take the money? I don’t think so. They took the TARP money with hands held out willingly. No one was twisting their arm forcing them to take the money.

If they didn’t need it, they shouldn’t have taken it. Maybe they could give it back now then? As a taxpayer I would appreciate it if they returned the money to my children’s pockets. They’re going to need it to pay for all the other moochers out there.

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