It's our entire structure and system which has now become corrupt - Big Connected Banks got the bailouts .. SO?

From the University of Michigan's Ross Grad School of Business website:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Banks with strong political connections were more likely to receive bailout money from the government -- and more of it -- in the past year than those with weaker ties, say Ross researchers.

A new study by Ross professors Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura found that banks with connections to members of congressional finance committees and banks whose executives served on Federal Reserve boards were more likely to receive funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the federal government's program to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector.

Further, their research shows that TARP investment amounts were positively related to banks' political contributions and lobbying expenditures, and that, overall, the effect of political influence was strongest for poorly performing banks.

"Our results show that political connections play an important role in a firm's access to capital," said Sosyura, assistant professor of finance. "The effects of political ties on federal capital investment are strongest for companies with weaker fundamentals, lower liquidity and poorer performance -- which suggests that political ties shift capital allocation towards underperforming institutions."

In their study, Duchin and Sosyura focused on the Capital Purchase Program, the largest TARP initiative in terms of the number of participants and the amount of expended capital. As of late September, nearly 700 financial institutions had received about $205 billion under the program.

The researchers used four variables to measure political influence: 1) seats held by bank executives on the board of directors at any of the 12 Federal Reserve banks or their branches (the Federal Reserve is involved in the initial review of CPP applications from the majority of qualified banks); 2) banks with headquarters located in the district of a U.S. House member serving on the Congressional Committee on Financial Services or its subcommittees on Financial Institutions and Capital Markets (which played a major role in the development of TARP and its amendments); 3) banks' campaign contributions to congressional candidates; and 4) banks' lobbying expenditures.

SSRN-id1426219.pdf , that is the entire study.

It is important to note that just changing democrats and republicans WON'T DO A DAMNED THING ABOUT THIS CORRUPTION. These people probably can pass lie detector tests when asked tough questions about the ethics of this. They are all as HOPELESSLY helpless before Mammon as is Tiger Woods before a nice set of teats.

Legal Bernie Madoff