Banks to Bail Out Gov't?

Bailouts work both ways, apparently: The government is seriously considering a plan to have healthy banks lend billions of dollars to bail out an insurance fund that protects bank depositors and is rapidly running out of money due to bank failures. Bankers and their lobbyists like the idea, as opposed to borrowing the money from the Treasury. The use of taxpayer dollars could lead to new government controls on things like executive pay. Plus, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair apparently does not want to bark up Timothy Geithner’s tree. “Sheila Bair would take bamboo shoots under her nails before going to Tim Geithner and the Treasury for help,” said one source of their strained relationship. “She’d do just about anything before going there.”