Bank Bailout Congressional Video: House Rep. Brad Sherman Will Make You Smile as He Plays 'Who's the Idiot' with Bank CEO Gerbils

" Gentleman, money is fungible. Don't insult our intelligence. The issue is what dividends and bonuses did you pay, or will you pay while holding taxpayer's money?"

That's the opening salvo from Sherman. He's just getting started. Make sure to watch the whole thing.

Thursday Links

Comments

[spideydouble]

Pandit claims his goal at Citi is to make this an extremely profitable investment for the U.S. government and that Citi is paying $3.4bn annually as dividends on the investment. So taxpayers were screwed with $20bn of missing preferred shares, but the shares that were given will increase in value to make up for it? The $3.4bn annually as dividends is tax dollars anyways and not the result of profitability. What about the compounded interest taxpayers will be paying on this TARP boondoggle? Make no mistake, Citi will require additional tax dollars to keep this Frankenbank alive and will continue to head to zero. I feel sick to my stomach.

Getting screwed is one thing, but getting screwed with nothing to show for it is something else entirely. Remember those guys hustling in New York in the '80s with VCR enclosures full of bricks? At least you could blame yourself for being the sucker. This is the equivalent of those guys mugging you and then handing you a brick times a trillion.