700 billion bail out spent on... what, exactly?

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.
 
"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."
 
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.
 
"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.
"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.
 
"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.
Pressured by the Bush administration to approve the money quickly, Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.
 
"Those are legitimate questions that should have been asked on Day One," said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., a House Financial Services Committee member who opposed the bailout as it was rushed through Congress. "Where is the money going to go to? How is it going to be spent? When are we going to get a record on it?"
 
Nearly every bank AP questioned — including Citibank and Bank of America, two of the largest recipients of bailout money — responded with generic public relations statements explaining that the money was being used to strengthen balance sheets and continue making loans to ease the credit crisis.
 
A few banks described company-specific programs, such as JPMorgan Chase\'s plan to lend $5 billion to nonprofit and health care companies next year. Richard Becker, senior vice president of Wisconsin-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp., said the $1.75 billion in bailout money allowed the bank to temporarily stop foreclosing on homes.
 
But no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money.

The AP also inquired on how much of the bailout money went to sending CEOs and top level employees on well-deserved vacations to Mexico\'s beautiful Puerto Viarta! Your CEO and three guests will enjoy 6 nights and 7 days in Mexico\'s sunny Puerto Viarta!

[GmanJoe]

Mother focker.

I knew it.

I blame this on Obama.

Not like the first time the government ran around throwing money around not really knowing where all of it was going.

Just  more ridiculousness!

[Titan]

*sigh* At least with the auto bailout, there are strings attached.

[clips]

This is just baffling....nobody is monitoring or tracking the money trail?...the gov\'t is just letting the banks run wild with our tax dollars?..and yet these clowns that issue those credit cards wanna harrass me every month for a payment on their punkass credit cards?....pshhh....keep dreamin\' with that one....


Seriously tho, i bet alot of this money will slowly find it\'s way to the accounts of some of the higher ups and CEO\'s of these banks...i still wonder why nobody is attacking the major catalyst of  this crippling economy..the mortgage crisis...why not just re-structure the loans for folks so that they can stay in their homes? Again let the banks take a hit on the interest,..at least they\'ll be getting their money and the economy will get moving again.

But these guys haven\'t even been lending out money as they were supposed to. It\'s crazy how nobody is really leaning on these cats to enforce them to lend or to regulate their lending policies.