Are We As Dumb As Our Elected Officials?
…or are we just too busy trying to keep roofs over our heads, and our children fed?
Do Not Be A Sheeple!!
Just asking, just want to know…
The Monster has had so much angst for days now that I have not been able to write anything until this evening when I read an article that was reminiscent of a post I wrote back on December 12th entitled “Is The Fed Following The Lead Of The One?” concerning the secrecy behind $2 TRILLION of emergency Loans.
I know you all remember the $700 Billion (TARP) Bailout for the banks that was rushed through the Congress against the wishes of most of the American Populace by the Republican President and Democratic Congress in keeping with the wishes of one Hank Paulson. I am still wondering how one man with, what looks like, a hidden agenda ended up panicking so many politicians. In my household there is a saying “panic will get you killed”, and I am thinking that there are more Americans than just me that believe that statement on some level. I am not panicking, I am getting angrier by the minute by an article I just read, and I believe that in the distraction of The One, The Rahm, The Blago, The Cheney, The Biden and the Dipsticks in Congress, y’all might just miss this:
Where’d the bailout money go? Shhhh, it’s a secret
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where’s the money going? But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. (emphasis mine)
If I was a Republican senator or congressman, I would be jumping on this issue like a rabid pitbull with lockjaw. Hint..hint…(Getting re-elected is easy for a Champion Of The People).
“We’ve lent some of it. We’ve not lent some of it. We’ve not given any accounting of, ‘Here’s how we’re doing it,'” said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. “We have not disclosed that to the public. We’re declining to.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, you just became the largest bank in the world and are loaning money to bankers who will not tell you how they are spending it. How does that make you feel? Do you think that is a better investment of your dollars, than say, your retirement or your child’s college education?
The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest?
None of the banks provided specific answers.
I guess we should be calling in the marker, yes?
“We’re not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking,” said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.
Some banks said they simply didn’t know where the money was going.
A bank not writing the dollar amounts in and out? Say What? Does that sound as ridiculous to you as it does to me? I am calling bullsh** on that bold faced lie.
“We manage our capital in its aggregate,” said Regions Financial Corp. spokesman Tim Deighton, who said the Birmingham, Ala.-based company is not tracking how it is spending the $3.5 billion it received as part of the financial bailout.
The answers highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which earmarked $700 billion – about the size of the Netherlands’ economy – to help rescue the financial industry. The Treasury Department has been using the money to buy stock in U.S. banks, hoping that the sudden inflow of cash will get banks to start lending money.
There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money – not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that’s happening and there are no consequences for banks who don’t comply.
So a Bailout Bill was written for the express purpose of unfreezing credit markets and no provision to make sure that happened?
“It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry,” said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout.
But, at least for now, there’s no way for taxpayers to find that out.
No.Way.For.Taxpayers.To.Find.Out.
Do I have your attention now?
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We Have Been Had Again By The Corrupt Congress.
What Would You Like To Do?
