Where Did All That Money Go?

After receiving the first issue of the $700 billions bailout package from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. This first issue was in the amount of $350 billion.

This is hard to believe. Has a bank ever failed to list where every penny in your checking account went? Not my bank. They have never failed to list every check I have ever written.

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that were recipients of at least $1 billion in the emergency bailout money. None could give AP a straight answer as to where the money went or how it was used. AP asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?

None of the banks provided specific answers. Some banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going. And no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money.

So, who in the federal government is tracking how this money is being used? Somebody should. If a federal agency gives a grant or loans money it should verify the money is needed and verify it is used as prescribed in the Congressional bailout plan. In this case, the U.S. Treasury gave the money out. And, they will give out another $350 billion sometime in the middle of January.

I would hope the U.S. Treasury wakes up and gives taxpayers some sort of report of how all this money is being used.