Goodbye. Goodbye. GOODBYE. Get the fuck out already.

[KansDem]

54. "...but at least the banks paid the loans back with interest."

Did they?

More than half of $4 billion in federal funds disbursed this year to spur small-business lending by community banks was used to repay bailout funds that the banks received under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Small Business Lending Fund was meant to raise capital at smaller banks, which tend to lend more heavily to small businesses, in the hopes of jump-starting growth and employment. But instead of directly lending to small businesses, many of the banks used the money to rid themselves of higher-cost TARP debt and tougher restrictions.

"It was basically a bailout for 100-plus banks," said Giovanni Coratolo, vice president of small-business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "From a point of view of a small business owner, it was very ineffective in getting funds out to small business."

WSJ

And...

WHILE THE media focused on the Washington charade over raising the federal debt ceiling and cutting the estimated budget deficit, a a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve released in late July showed that the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Bank have doled out an incredible $16 trillion in assistance to financial institutions and corporations in the U.S. and around the world.

The audit, conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), was mandated as part of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act sponsored by Democratic lawmakers Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank.

The audit revealed that the various emergency lending facilities, guarantee programs and bailouts for Wall Street--a project wholeheartedly supported by both major parties--was in itself far larger than the deficit that now has the same parties gunning for deep cuts to critical social programs.

Socialist Worker

Paid back?!!

We were fleeced...BIG TIME!