[Barofsky] also said fewer than 5% of banks receiving government aid have responded to a request about what they have done with their bailout money.It could very well be that the banks he's trying to contact don't exactly want to be completely forthcoming about their usage of bailout funds:
Northern Trust flew hundreds of clients and employees to L.A. and put many of them up at some of the fanciest and priciest hotels in the city. We're told more than a hundred people were put up at the Beverly Wilshire in Bev Hills, and another hundred stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Still more stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and others at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica.I don't really care if Northern Trust needed the bailout money or not. Taking the bailout funds provided them with a nice buffer to spend lavishly when it's not exactly prudent of them to do so, especially from a PR perspective.
While we've given shitloads of money to these bankers, the one thing we haven't given them is fear of consequence. I think it would be fairly easy to rectify that by something simple like unannounced FBI raids on each of the financial institutions who received TARP funds. If they're planning lavish parties or are unable to provide full documentation on fund usage, then the execs are off to prison and immediately replaced.
What ideas can you Shakers come up with to get these institutions in line?
[H/T to ThinkProgress]
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