This bailout was such a great idea

Banks to Continue Paying Dividends

U.S. banks getting more than $163 billion from the Treasury Department for new lending are on pace to pay more than half of that sum to their shareholders, with government permission, over the next three years.

The government said it was giving banks more money so they could make more loans. Dollars paid to shareholders don't serve that purpose, but Treasury officials say that suspending quarterly dividend payments would have deterred banks from participating in the voluntary program.

Critics, including economists and members of Congress, question why banks should get government money if they already have enough money to pay dividends -- or conversely, why banks that need government money are still spending so much on dividends.

That's right, 52% of the bailout is going to pay out dividends to stock holders. Sorry, that should have had an exclamation point or two at the end of it. That's why this is a crisis right? Because dividends aren't being payed out, right? Not credit markets or housing markets failing, dividend payments for companies in dire financial straits not getting handed out. I guess if you own stock in these companies, you ought to be happy, you are getting your taxpayer bailout money back. What tremendous luck. I sure am glad we got a Goldman Sachs/Wall Street insider lording over everything, otherwise the important shit like this would get overlooked because most people's natural reaction would be to say "Fuck dividend payments." But those people are wrong for some reason. This is exactly what our money should be spent on, because...free market...something, something.