Bank transparency

At a Nov. 13 Senate oversight hearing on the $700 billion bank bailout, executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America were Cheshire fat cats as Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown told them, "such an extraordinary grant of authority must be accompanied by oversight and transparency."

The execs shamelessly patronized the senators. JPMorgan Chase's Barry Zubrow said, "The government's investment in our firm came along with a special responsibility . . . to America's taxpayers." Goldman Sachs' Gregory Palm said, "We look forward to working . . . through the current crisis and to identify and address the failings that have led to this difficult situation." Bank of America's Anne Finucane said, "We do believe that there needs to be greater transparency."

Banking committee member Tim Johnson of South Dakota said, "I want assurances from financial organizations using Treasury funds that they will not abuse the taxpayers' money."

Johnson's lonely quest for accountability was met by more abuse. Twenty-one banks that received at least $1 billion in bailout money refused in December to tell the Associated Press how the money was spent. Sun-Trust said, "We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking." Comerica said, "We're not sharing any other details." JPMorgan Chase said, "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to." Morgan Stanley said, "We are going to decline to comment."

Particularly offensive was Bank of New York Mellon. After spokesman Kevin Heine told the AP, "We're choosing not to disclose that," he requested, "I just would prefer if you wouldn't say that we're not going to discuss those details."

The Government Accountability Office said the bailout lacked "monitoring compliance." This outrage has not been met with enough anger by President-elect Obama and Congress (Barney Frank of Massachusetts chairs the House Financial Services Committee). The headline on American Banker's coverage of the Nov. 13 hearing was: "Bank Execs Get Pass." The story said, "the hearing never got contentious." Without a contentious Obama and Congress, the bailout is a $700 billion bank robbery.

Derrick Z. Jackson can be reached at jackson@globe.com.