U.S. Says Bank of America Needs $33.9 Billion Cushion – New York Times (5/6/09):

The government has told Bank of America it needs $33.9 billion in capital to withstand any worsening of the economic downturn, according to an executive at the bank.

The government’s determination that Bank of America doesn’t need as much capital as it has already received from taxpayers is an indication that even some of the most troubled banks may not need more government money than has been allocated to them.

A close second for my favorite part of this article is this:

It could satisfy regulators’ demands simply by converting non-voting preferred shares it gave the government in return for the capital, into common stock.

But that would make the government one of the bank’s largest shareholders.

Sounds way too close to nationalization for Geithner/Summers/Obama‘s delicate crapitalistic sensibilities. And we’re now judging “progress” based on whether or not we have to double down on the idiotic bank bailout the banks got just a few months ago? I swear, we are ruled by fucking morons.

They’ve blown the politics, the policy, and when the next wave of foreclosures and the coming commercial real estate crash hit, they will have gone quite a long way towards blowing up the whole country.