Monday, January 12, 2009

It's Your Money: So where has $325 billion in bank bailouts gone?


O.K. I woke up this morning only to find that our government does not know where $325 billion in bank bailouts has gone. Not that having no accountability standards isn't bad enough, but the banks, who begged us [taxpayer] for this money, are refusing to let us know how they used it! According to Money Morning, " billions in U.S. bank rescue funds are financing buyouts worldwide - instead of lending at home. Some of those buyouts deals are being done in markets as far away as China. Meanwhile, credit remains tight here in the U.S. market, a situation that could be alleviated if only the banks made the bailout money available to consumers in the form of loans."

Folks, this is utterly ridiculous and shows that the flawed institutional and public policies that got us into this mess still exists in Washington today--greed, corruption, hidden agendas, elitism, and institutional racism are still running amuck in D.C.

So, where has the money gone? Perhaps to pay shareholders instead of lending money to the American public as the money was intended. Democracy Now! raised concerns as far back as October of this year:
" ...major US banks are on pace to spend more than half their bailout money on rewarding their shareholders. The thirty-three banks are set to receive some $163 billion in government bailouts. Half of that sum would go toward paying off shareholders over the next three years. The Bush administration touted the bank bailout as necessary to resume lending. But Treasury officials say the banks
would never accepted loans if they were n’t allowed to redistribute dividends to shareholders. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York is calling for the suspension of dividend payments at bailed-out banks."
As reported by Globalreaserch.ca, perhaps some of it went to buy out ailing competitors.

My point is neither the Government nor the taxpayers are aware of where and how this money was spent, so chances are it's not being spent wisely or for the purpose for which it was intended--to help the average American citizen maintain their lifestyle.

Barack Obama, I'm asking you, are you going to put an end to this stuff or just continue with "business as usual?" 'Cause the people want to know.

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