BankThink

As we are all aware, natural-person credit unions are being asked to restore the NCUSIF after the effects of the losses at U.S. Central are recognized. This $5 billion charge will cause untold harm to our members, who took no part in the decisions that led to these losses. In fact, most credit unions in the country will post negative net income during 2009 and will certainly have a meaningful depletion of their members' capital as a result.

You've seen it a hundred times on various TV news shows and, admit it, you loved it. It was painful and embarrassing and you sometimes found yourself squirming as much as the guy you're watching, and still, you couldn't pull yourself away.

Yesterday´s House Financial Services hearing on Tarp accountability pitted high-flying lawmakers against high-flying CEOs, and it was clear that the two groups´ areas of expertise seldom overlapped. This tinted the day´s proceedings with a cast of absurdity that flared up at certain moments to turn the otherwise humdrum hearing into a circus sideshow.

One phrase surfaced over and over during Wednesday´s House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tarp accountability: "Money is fungible."

For most of yesterday´s House Financial Services Committee Hearing, during which the CEOs of the Big Eight banks testified, it would have been easy to forget about the masses of Americans who are supposedly so mad about big bank bailouts that a solid, all-hands-on-deck rescue package would have sent them over the moon. The questions were tame; the anger was scarce. But though it was missing from the Rayburn building yesterday, unfiltered rage is alive and well and living on the Internet.

It's time to fire up the ticker again as the House Financial Services Committee returns from a recess to ask the heads of the eight largest US banks about what they did with their Tarp money. So far, it's been pretty smooth sailing for the witnesses. Here's a refersher on who's testifying:

The House Financial Services Committee's supposed grilling of the CEOs of the eight largest US banks has turned into a much more civil affair than many had anticipated. Partisanship and acrimony are present only at trace levels; blame is also nearly undetectable. But this is a live blog, so things could get interesting at any minute. Keep following.

The House Financial Services Committee's interrogation of the eight biggest bank CEOs continues; opening statements are over and the questioning is about to begin. Stay tuned.

The grilling of the country's eight biggest bank CEOs this morning promises to be juicy, so BankThink is live-blogging on the event. Stay tuned for the hearing´s every barb and twist.

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America´s Web site looks like a twisted issue of Country Living today as part of the housing non-profit´s protest against "predatory" lenders.