What happened to the bailout(taxpayer) money given to the banks?

According to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the chief proponent of the big bank bailout, flooding the banks with taxpayers’ money was supposed to get them to start lending freely again. And that, in turn, was supposed to stabilize the markets and prevent the downturn from being worse than it otherwise would be.

It was not entirely clear from the start exactly how Mr. Paulson would ensure that things would go that way. Indeed, earlier this month, shortly after the bailout was enacted, The Times’s Mark Landler reported that Treasury officials also wanted to steer the bailout billions to banks that would use the money to buy up other banks. 

Now, lo and behold, with $250 billion in bailout funds committed to dozens of large and regional banks, it turns out that many of the recipients of this investment from taxpayers are not all that interested in making loans. And it appears that Mr. Paulson is not so bothered by their reluctance. More...

See also:

1. Goldman Sachs ready to hand out £7bn salary and bonus package... after its £6bn bail-out!!!
2. Greece comes to a halt as demonstrators protest bank bailout...
3. Bailout Man from Eva Moon and the Lunatics...
4. Protest in England: no bailout for the bosses...