EVEN AFTER BAILOUT, BANKS CONTINUE DECEPTION OF TAXPAYERS!

America’s Second Declaration Of Independence!

AS A SOCIAL-DEMOCRAT, I haven’t trusted a major corporation – especially the major banks on Wall Street – in nearly 30 years. Then again, my distrust for unregulated Capitalism has been supported by the greed of Corporate America since the Reagan years.

But I never thought these sociopaths in Brooks Brothers suits would come up with the 14-karat chutzpah to again scam the American people, who these Banks’ very existence has been, at least temporarily, expanded by the taxpayer’s generosity to the tune of $700 billion.

That money was intended to aid homeowners from further foreclosure, while stimulating the economy and stopping the mass unemployment that has plagued this society for the past year.

With almost half of the bail-out money dispensed already, there is no evidence a red cent has been used for that purpose. And when asked to account for how it has been spent, the smug mortgage bank executives – in their infinite arrogance – chose not to respond honestly or even at all in one case.

“We’ve lent some of it. We’ve not lent some of it. We’ve not given any accounting of, ‘Here’s how we’re doing it,’” said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman of JP Morgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. “We have not disclosed that to the public. We’re declining to.”

The Associated Press recently contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and 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?

Yet not one of the banks provided concrete answers.

This is exactly why so many Capitol Hill legislators opposed bailing out Wall Street in the first place. The only reason they passed the $17 billion auto rescue plan was to prevent a further hemorrhage in the unemployment picture.

When was the last time we have seen any form of integrity in Corporate America? When have they last shown an iota of compassion and concern for the middle-class and poor?

It’s too bad we can’t throw the lot of them in federal prison – where they belong for at least 20 years – while confiscating their personal fortunes. However, these insatiable, money-hungry thugs’ agreement breach with the government is strictly a civil matter.

If I were Timothy Geithner — President-Elect Barack Obama’s candidate for treasury secretary – I would call on the Justice Department of the new administration in January to litigate the immediate reimbursement of every cent foolishly given to them thus far. I would also ask the court to order them to pay interest and legal fees.

In addition, I would send the other $350 billion remaining from the original $700 million back to the Chinese, who lent us the money for this fiasco. Yet, incredible as it might sound, George W. Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is currently attempting to convince the Congress to release that money as well to these rogue bankers.

Hasn’t Paulson done enough damage, disgracing his boss, the man who depended on him for a competent fiscal assessment of the Wall Street fiasco? Like most presidents, Bush is not an economist and relies on his “expert” for advice. Instead, Paulson is leaving him with even more egg all over his face – this coming as the president is trying to make some last minute sane moves that would help his already-tarnished legacy.

Something bothered me in the first place about the treasury secretary’s original proposal to Congress for the bailout, which completely lacked legitimate oversight. Not surprisingly, as with most Republicans, he was protecting the affluent at the expense of the rest of us – the very tactic that has put this country in the worse fiscal quagmire since the Great Depression.

The genesis of this financial downturn goes all the way back to 1980 when then President Reagan virtually deregulated big business. The fact it has come to a boil the past few months was inevitable.

Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money and a former hedge fund manager understands Wall Street as well as anyone. In an interview today with Mike Barnacle on MSNBC’s Hardball, he virtually called the $700 billion bailout the most corrupt act yet of the Bush White House.

Speaking of which, there are exactly 29 days before this administration gets shown the door. As far as I’m concerned, they couldn’t go by fast enough!