Treasury Overpaid for Bank Assets in Bailout, Oversight Panel Says

or
Government Played For Sucker Again.

The Washington Post reports that federal bank bailout guys paid too much.

The investigators concluded that the Treasury under the federal bailout had invested $254 billion into companies but the preferred stock it got in return had a market value at the time of only $176 billion, or 69 percent of what the government paid, according to a congressional oversight panel report scheduled to be released today.

And that doesn't include the overdraft/ATM/service fees. Face it, the gummint got ripped off no matter what they paid or else why would the bank sell them anything. All this bailout is doing is letting the banks rip us off at wholesale prices instead of retail.

Bank of America, Citigroup Post Major Losses

or
Banks Crap On And Cheat Customers, Pay The Price

The Washington Post notes another mile marker on the road to total financial collapse.

The dismal results from Bank of America and Citigroup showed the depth of the recession during the last three months of 2008, and suggested that the economic situation is getting worse. Both companies reported that losses on products such as credit card loans were not just growing but accelerating.

Since all their customers are broke, both banks have decided that extracting blood from turnips would make a better business strategy.