Re: =======> WHERE'D THE BAILOUT MONEY GO? SHHHH, IT'S A SECRET! <=======

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On Dec 23, 6:41 pm, ChasNemo <chasn...@aol.com> wrote:
> http://www.mail.com/Article.aspx?articlepath=APNews\General-Business\20081222\Meltdown-Secrets.xml&cat=money&subcat=business&pa­geid=1
>
> Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret
> 12/22/2008 06:08:26
> By MATT APUZZO
>
> 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
> $1billion 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.
>
> "We're choosing not to disclose that," said Kevin Heine, spokesman for
> Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion.
>
> Others said the money couldn't be tracked. Bob Denham, a spokesman for
> North Carolina-based BB&T Corp., said the bailout money "doesn't have
> its own bucket." But he said taxpayer money wasn't used in the bank's
> recent purchase of a Florida insurance company. Asked how he could be
> sure, since the money wasn't being tracked, Denham said the bank would
> have made that deal regardless.
>
> Others, such as Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Carissa Ramirez, offered to
> discuss the matter with reporters on condition of anonymity. When AP
> refused, Ramirez sent an e-mail saying: "We are going to decline to
> comment on your story."
>
> Most banks wouldn't say why they were keeping the details secret.
>
> "We're not sharing any other details. We're just not at this time,"
> said Wendy Walker, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Comerica Inc., which
> received $2.25 billion from the government.
>
> Heine, the New York Mellon Corp. spokesman who said he wouldn't share
> spending specifics, added: "I just would prefer if you wouldn't say
> that we're not going to discuss those details."
>
> The banks which came closest to answering the questions were those,
> such as U.S. Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares Inc., that only
> recently received the money and have yet to spend it. But neither
> provided anything more than a generic summary of how the money would
> be spent.
>
> Lawmakers say they want to tighten restrictions on the remaining, yet-
> to-be-released $350 billion block of bailout money before more cash is
> handed out. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the department is
> trying to step up its monitoring of bank spending.
>
> "What we've been doing here is moving, I think, with lightning speed
> to put necessary programs in place, to develop them, implement them,
> and then we need to monitor them while we're doing this," Paulson said
> at a recent forum in New York. "So we're building this organization as
> we're going."
>
> Warren, the congressional watchdog appointed by Democrats, said her
> oversight panelwill try to force the banks to say where they've spent
> the money.
>
> "It would take a lot of nerve not to give answers," she said.
>
> But Warren said she's surprised she even has to ask.
>
> "If the appropriate restrictions were put on the money to begin with,
> if the appropriate transparency was in place, then we wouldn't be in a
> position where you're trying to call every recipient and get the basic
> information that should already be in public documents," she said.
>
> Garrett, the New Jersey congressman, said the nation might never get a
> clear answer on where hundreds of billions of dollars went.
>
> "A year or two ago, when we talked about spending $100 million for a
> bridge to nowhere, that was considered a scandal," he said.

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mitch