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September 23, 2009 (LPAC)—The FDIC, rapidly running out of money to close bankrupt banks, is reportedly considering boosting its Deposit Insurance Fund by borrowing money—from the banks! That's what the New York Times reported on Tuesday, in an article that, despite bouts of rolling on the floor laughing, we were finally able to finish. Are these people nuts? (Yes! It's a rhetorical question.)

"Senior regulators say they are seriously considering a plan to have the nation’s healthy banks lend billions of dollars to rescue the insurance fund that protects bank depositors," the Times said. "That would enable the fund, which is rapidly running out of money because of a wave of bank failures, to continue to rescue the sickest banks."

The thinking—if you can call it that—behind the proposal appears to be the fear that any further bailout of the banking system might trigger a revolt of the citizenry.

Said the Times: "[A]ny new borrowing from the Treasury would be construed as a taxpayer bailout that could open the industry to a political reaction, resulting in a wave of restrictions like fresh limits on executive pay. Any populist furor could be avoided, the thinking goes, if the government borrows instead from the banks."

"It is much better for perceptions than having the fund borrow from somewhere else," said a spokesman for the Independent Community Bankers.

Let's get this straight. The "healthy" banks—that is, banks whose doors are open only because of the largest theft of taxpayer money in the history of the world—will lend the government money—in effect, lending the government the government's own money—to shut down their competitors that the government has chosen not to bail out. In return, these "healthy" banks will receive government-guaranteed bonds, and interest payments on those bonds. So the big banks get paid for helping wipe out their less-politically-connected competition, and the financial system consolidates even further. From the standpoint of the empire, it's a sweet deal.

It is also incredibly stupid, insane, and corrupt. The FDIC, which should be in the business of protecting failed banks, is rapidly being turned into yet another bailout facility. Instead of protecting banks, it is being turned into a mechanism to destroy the U.S. banking system.

We view the mere suggestion of such a scheme as a sign of the times—the end times. Anyone who considers this scheme a viable proposal should be quickly sent to the nearest facility for the treatment of the mentally ill. We've obviously reached the end of the line.