Where'd the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It's a Secret

The title of this post is a headline at Fox News that caught my eye this morning, Where'd the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It's a Secret, it's an article I recommend reading but it's not going to make you feel any better about the Wall Street/banking bailout. Especially this:

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, Alabama-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.

You'd think there would be some process in place, but apparently that's something DC forgot to do...