Published: December 26, 2008 09:58 am      

Show us our money | Banks should disclose use of bailout bucks

We are appalled that the federal government would give away taxpayer money in a bailout of the banking system without requiring an accounting of how that money would be spent.

But guess what? That’s exactly what is happening.

The Associated Press says it contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money, seeking the answers to four very simple questions:

* How much has been spent?

* What was it spent on?

* How much is being held in savings?

* What’s the plan for the rest?

The AP says: “None of the banks provided specific answers.”

Say what?

If this were part of the agreement for the bailout money, then our representatives in Washington – Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, and Reps. John Murtha and Bill Shuster – failed us miserably.

If the federal government is expecting – indeed, requiring – full disclosure of how the banks are spending our money, which it should, then it should start retracting the cash until some answers are provided.

Every dollar. Every cent.

Here are some of the nauseatingly arrogant responses bank executives gave to the AP:

* “We’re choosing not to disclose that.” – Kevin Heine of Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion.

* “We have not disclosed that to the public. We’re declining to.” – Thomas Kelly of JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money.

* “We’re not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking.” – Barry Koling of Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which received $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.

* “We’re not sharing any other details. We’re just not at this time.” – Wendy Walker of Dallas-based Comerica Inc., which received $2.25 billion.

Tim Deighton, a spokes-man for Regions Financial Corp. of Birmingham, Ala., seemed to suggest that tracking how the bailout money was being broken down is not possible. “We manage our capital in its aggregate,” he rationalized.

How absurd!

Elizabeth Warren, who chairs the committee overseeing the financial bailout, merely pointed out the obvious when she said: “It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry.”

And if these banks – which mismanaged themselves into financial trouble, then came crawling to Washington for help – are not required the provide precise accounting for their spending of the bail-out, then our representatives have failed us.

Rep. Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican who opposed the bailouts – and rightly so – fears we’ll never know where all this money went.

Warren added: “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.”

We call for all of our local lawmakers to push for full disclosure of the bailout spending, or admit publicly their complete incompetence in the handling of this public financial resource.