Job 1 For Obama Administration: Prosecute the XX@@## Banks Who Took Bailout

Highway Robbery of American Taxpayer Requires Return of Funds, Penalties

December 28, 2008
By: Dave Rogers

"In elevating to a level of demiworship people with big bucks, we have been destroying the values of our future generation. We need a total rethinking of who the heroes are, who the role models are, who we should be honoring." --RABBI BENJAMIN BLECH, professor of philosophy of law at Yeshiva University, on the downfall of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.

Government (if you can say we have one) has gone so far over the top that the theft of the treasury we have just seen makes the Teapot Dome look like kids play.

I'm so hoppin' mad I can top Lou Dobbs daily outrage ten times over. I can hear him now: "Just what is our government thinking of?"

Whaddaya mean the banks won't tell where the money went????

This is Ludicrous, Ridiculous, Incredulous!!!

Bank presidents who took the money from the bailout and won't say where or how they spent it need to be fitted for striped suits.

And you can put the Southern senators who opposed the auto loans right along side them in the slammer. They are all guilty of conflict of interest and should not even have been allowed to vote on the issue.

If President Obama when he takes office doesn't appoint a special prosecutor then Congress should step in with a committee investigation.

One definition of treason is: "the betrayal of a trust."

Actions of both the bank presidents and the senators aptly fit that description.

Obviously, if we can't trust banks with federal money, who can we trust? That is the definition of our problem. Everyone is stealing from everyone else, especially if they can. It is a totally corrupt culture.

Conservatives who have been howling about accountability for years should be in the front lines on this one. But somehow there seems to be a double standard between banks and people who actually work for a living, like auto workers.

If there ever was confirmation that the age-old struggle between the democratic and aristocratic philosophies is still front and center this should settle the issue.

After all this is a society that puts a man in prison for theft of a pack of gum, then busts him back for years more behind bars for probation violation. Who is the loser in that scenario: the poor perp or us, society that pays $30,000 a year to keep him in jail?

Here's a list of some of the recipients so far - of this government's generosity; contrast these against the paltry amount of the "gift" to the Big Three & the millions of us that depend upon those jobs remaining here in the US.

Wells Fargo & Company San Francisco CA $25,000,000,000

JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York NY $25,000,000,000

Citigroup Inc. New York NY $25,000,000,000

Bank of America Corporation Charlotte NC $15,000,000,000

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. New York NY $10,000,000,000

Morgan Stanley New York NY $10,000,000,000

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. New York NY $10,000,000,000

U.S. Bancorp Minneapolis MN $6,599,000,000

Capital One Financial Corporation McLean VA $3,555,199,000

SunTrust Banks, Inc. Atlanta GA $3,500,000,000

Regions Financial Corp. Birmingham AL $3,500,000,000

BB&T Corp. Winston-Salem NC $3,133,640,000

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation New York NY $3,000,000,000

KeyCorp Cleveland OH $2,500,000,000

Comerica Inc. Dallas TX $2,250,000,000

State Street Corporation Boston MA $2,000,000,000

Marshall & Ilsley Corporation Milwaukee WI $1,715,000,000

Northern Trust Corporation Chicago IL $1,576,000,000

Zions Bancorporation Salt Lake City UT $1,400,000,000

Huntington Bancshares Columbus OH $1,398,071,000

Popular, Inc. San Juan PR $935,000,000

First Horizon National Corporation Memphis TN $866,540,000

Associated Banc-Corp Green Bay WI $525,000,000

Webster Financial Corporation Waterbury CT $400,000,000

City National Corporation Beverly Hills CA $400,000,000

TCF Financial Corporation Wayzata MN $361,172,000

South Financial Group, Inc. Greenville SC $347,000,000

Wilmington Trust Corporation Wilmington DE $330,000,000

East West Bancorp Pasadena CA $306,546,000

Sterling Financial Corporation Spokane WA $303,000,00

0 Valley National Bancorp Wayne NJ $300,000,000

Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc Lititz PA $300,000,000

Citizens Republic Bancorp, Inc. Flint MI $300,000,000

UCBH Holdings, Inc. San Francisco CA $298,737,000

Cathay General Bancorp Los Angeles CA $258,000,000

SVB Financial Group Santa Clara CA $235,000,000

Trustmark Corporation Jackson MS $215,000,000

Umpqua Holdings Corp. Portland OR $214,181,000

Washington Federal Inc. Seattle WA $200,000,000

MB Financial Inc. Chicago IL $196,000,000

First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. Itasca IL $193,000,000

First Niagara Financial Group Lockport NY $184,011,000

Pacific Capital Bancorp Santa Barbara CA $180,634,000

United Community Banks, Inc. Blairsville GA $180,000,000

Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. Boston MA $154,000,000

Provident Bancshares Corp. Baltimore MD $151,500,000

National Penn Bancshares, Inc. Boyertown PA $150,000,000

Western Alliance Bancorporation Las Vegas NV $140,000,000

CVB Financial Corp Ontario CA $130,000,000

Sterling Bancshares, Inc. Houston TX $125,198,000

Banner Corporation Walla Walla WA $124,000,000

Signature Bank New York NY $120,000,000

Taylor Capital Group Rosemont IL $104,823,000

Old National Bancorp Evansville IN $100,000,000

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. Nashville TN $95,000,000

Iberiabank Corporation Lafayette LA $90,000,000

Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. Melrose Park IL $84,784,000

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. Olney MD $83,094,000

Columbia Banking System, Inc. Tacoma WA $76,898,000

TowneBank Portsmouth VA $76,458,000

Wesbanco Bank Inc. Wheeling WV $75,000,000

Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. Little Rock AR $75,000,000

Independent Bank Corporation Ionia MI $72,000,000

Virginia Commerce Bancorp Arlington VA $71,000,000

Southwest Bancorp, Inc. Stillwater OK $70,000,000

Superior Bancorp Inc. Birmingham AL $69,000,000

Nara Bancorp, Inc. Los Angeles CA $67,000,000

First Financial Holdings Inc. Charleston SC $65,000,000

Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. Los Angeles CA $62,158,000

Great Southern Bancorp Springfield MO $58,000,000

Center Financial Corporation Los Angeles CA $55,000,000

NewBridge Bancorp Greensboro NC $52,372,000

Ameris Bancorp Moultrie GA $52,000,000

The Bancorp, Inc. Wilmington DE $45,220,000 Southern Community Financial Corp. Winston-Salem NC $42,750,000

First Community Bankshares Inc. Bluefield VA $41,500,000

Capital Bank Corporation Raliegh NC $41,279,000

Heritage Commerce Corp. San Jose CA $40,000,000

Cascade Financial Corporation Everett WA $38,970,000

Eagle Bancorp, Inc. Bethesda MD $38,235,000

TIB Financial Corp Naples FL $37,000,000

First Defiance Financial Corp. Defiance OH $37,000,000

State Bancorp, Inc. Jericho NY $36,842,000

Porter Bancorp Inc. Louisville KY $35,000,000

Encore Bancshares Inc. Houston TX $34,000,000

Bank of North Carolina Thomasville NC $31,260,000

Bank of Marin Bancorp Novato CA $28,000,000

Centerstate Banks of Florida Inc. Davenport FL $27,875,000

LNB Bancorp Inc. Lorain OH $25,223,000

HF Financial Corp. Sioux Falls SD $25,000,000

Heritage Financial Corporation Olympia WA $24,000,000

Severn Bancorp, Inc. Annapolis MD $23,393,000

Blue Valley Ban Corp Overland Park KS $21,750,000

Indiana Community Bancorp Columbus IN $21,500,000

Unity Bancorp, Inc. Clinton NJ $20,649,000

Citizens South Banking Corporation Gastonia NC $20,500,000

First PacTrust Bancorp, Inc. Chula Vista CA $19,300,000

HopFed Bancorp Hopkinsville KY $18,400,000

Bank of Commerce Holdings Redding CA $17,000,000

1st FS Corporation Hendersonville NC $16,369,000

Valley Financial Corporation Roanoke VA $16,019,000

LSB Corporation North Andover MA $15,000,000

Oak Valley Bancorp Oakdale CA $13,500,000

First Community Corporation Lexington SC $11,350,000

First Litchfield Financial Corporation Litchfield CT $10,000,000

Central Bancorp, Inc. Somerville MA $10,000,000

Coastal Banking Company, Inc. Fernandina Beach FL $9,950,000 Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. Poplar Bluff MO $9,550,000

Broadway Financial Corporation Los Angeles CA $9,000,000

Central Federal Corporation Fairlawn OH $7,225,000

Old Line Bancshares, Inc. Bowie MD $7,000,000

Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. Pittsburgh PA $7,000,000

Pacific International Bancorp Seattle WA $6,500,000

FPB Bancorp, Inc. Port St. Lucie FL $5,800,000

Northeast Bancorp Lewiston ME $4,227,000

Manhattan Bancorp El Segundo CA $1,700,000

Kudoes to the Associated Press for asking the banks where the money went when every agency and official of government went blithely on their merry way without a thought to where $350 billion might have gone.

Let's hear from you on this travesty of the American "democracy!~" Let Middle America's outrage be heard all the way to Washington. ###