Government may bribe banks to merge

We need this like we need a hole in the face, don't we?

As part of its quarter-trillion-dollar handout to the banking industry, the Treasury Department now wants to give some of the money to big banks just to swallow up smaller banks.

And this is supposed to help the economy how?

Now that everyone is realizing how catastrophic merger mania and deregulation have been, the Treasury Department wants to actually use taxpayer funds to pay banks to merge?

If this story wasn't so horribly real, suspension of disbelief would have to kick in.

Remember how many banks there used to be? At this rate, there's going to be just one bank soon. No choices. Just one giant bank that can gouge customers as much as it pleases, because there's no regulation or competition.

Maybe it's time the states step in and start regulating banks.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/business/21plan.html)