There’s always something to howl about.

The Frog and Scorpion (Millenium Edition)

Rod Blagojevich tried to sell the Illinois Senate seat, recently vacated by President-Elect Obama.  Blago is to public service what Bernard Madoff is to investment advisory; a modern day pirate, raping and plundering.  Their sociopathic behavior is exacerbated by their belief that position implies entitlement.  If you’re a believer, there is a special place in hell for them. You’ll hear Blago take the stand and offer this defense, in a classic Midwestern dialect,

“I didn’t do nuttin’ wrong. Daat’s how things get done in Chi-caago. ”

He’ll walk and that will be that.  How do I know this?    He wants to fight the charges:

“I’m not going to quit my job. I’m not going to do what my accusers and political enemies have done and that is talk about this case in 30 second sound bites. I am dying to show you how innocent I am. I intend to answer every allegation that comes my way.”

I think Blago’s DYING to speak out because he’s got the dirt on the whole Illinois political machine.  It’s a festering wound, oozing pus from a century of infection and I believe it’s reach extends from the freshest of aldermen to the highest office in our land. You shouldn’t care about this because “Daat’s the Chi-caago Way”.  Illinois voters price corruption into the market when they vote because they have no choice.

Here’s why you should be pissed off; Banks are refusing to disclose the uses of TARP funds:

Goldman:  When pressed for what the TARP money was being used for, Goldman Sachs replied that it is spent to “facilitate client activity in the capital markets.”

Morgan:  Of the 16 banks that were contacted by ABC News and asked how they were spending the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, only one bank pointed to a specific loan that it made with the cash. That was a $17 billion loan that Morgan Stanley made to Verizon Wireless.

Keep in mind that both Goldman and Morgan relinquished their status as securities firms and applied for Federal bank charters.  The brokers became bankers; members of the 3-6-3 club.    Did you expect this to be dusk on the Wall Street Era?  Michael Lewis was wrong.  The pirates found new booty and their looting under the protective veil of a Federal charter.

WELLS FARGO: Wells Fargo said that of the $25 billion it received, it “cannot provide any foward-looking (sic) guidance on lending for this quarter [and] Intend[s] to use the Capital Purchase Program funds to make more loans to credit-worthy customers.”

BONY: More typical was the generic response by the Bank of New York Mellon, which said of the fortune it had banked in public moneys: “Using the $3 billion to provide liquidity to the credit markets.”

Bank of America, one of Hank and Ben’s anointed children, assured us that they’re doing the right thing with your money:

Bank of America, which got $15 billion from TARP, said only, “Have reduced the incentive targets by more than half. Final awards have not been determined.”

State Street seemed offended that they were queried:

“Will not use any of the proceeds from the TARP Capital Purchase Program to fund our bonus pool or executive compensation,” the bank insisted.

Finally, in the ultimate thumbed nose to the public, insurance giant, AIG, is paying out an average of $600,000 for “retention” of key employees, after the boondoggle in Scottsdale:

Last week Congress was angered to learn that giant insurance company American Insurance Group, which received $150 billion in TARP cash to stay afloat, was paying more than $100 million in “retention bonuses” to 168 employees.

What ever happened to the concept of “Noblesee Oblige“?  Bankers are supposed to be the frogs, helping you navigate tumultuous waters to get to the other bank of the river.  There used to be a “higher calling” in the banking vocation; a pride of helping a family, small business, or corporation advance the ladder while protecting the principal of those who climbed it before.  Chalk it up to my Jesuit education but I actually believed that a banker was a stolid icon, dedicated to a cause greater than himself.

Don’t be mad at Blago, folks; he’s just doing what scorpions do.  The frogs are the bad guys today.