Ah, the incongruities. Two stories on page 1 of Izvestia. First, the "news" "analysis":

Even before word came on Tuesday that Citigroup might split into pieces to shore up its finances, an unpleasant message was moving through Congress and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team: the banks need more taxpayer money.

Second, the "news":

[The Indepedent Bank of Michigan] is using all of the government’s money to shore up its own weak finances by repaying short-term loans from the Federal Reserve. “It is like if you are in an airplane and the oxygen mask [that is, the bailout money] comes down,” said Stefanie Kimball, the bank’s chief lending officer. “First thing you do is put your own mask on, stabilize yourself.”

(Well done, Stefanie. I think you've got a job waiting for you in the public relations field.)

So, if (story 1) the banks "need" more money, why should we give it to them if (story 2)they're going to stuff it in the mattress?

And we get? We're sitting right next to the bank, waiting for them to finish up, and -- they promise -- help us. Except it was our oxygen -- our taxpayer money -- in the first place! Why do we have to choke to death while the bank breathes our oxygen?

This is not what the Treasury Department had in mind [Oh? Why should we believe that?] when it started this program, saying it would give the nation’s “healthy banks” enough money to start lending again, so that people could buy homes and businesses could invest and create jobs, thereby invigorating a disintegrating economy.

And we know this is not just in Michigan; the banks are hoarding cash everywhere. And I understand that's the rational thing to do from their perspective. But it's just like health care -- why should I suffer for the sake of somebody else's business model?

So, can somebody help me out with this question?

Why don't we just nationalize the whole system? Throw the executives out, claw back their loot, and start over? Outlaw financial engineering, and treat access to credit in the same way as access to water, or power: As a natural monopoly, and a regulated public utility. Why not? Who needs "innovation," anyhow, except the scam artists charging fees for it all?

NOTE Maybe if people saw the financial system as anything other than an excuse for looting by people who are already rich, they'd start saving again. Eh?