A major irony is that the bankers are putting taxpayer dollars to work lending money for job destruction. This is not what the poohbahs mean when they prate that healthy banks are vital to economic recovery. Schumpeterian change is inevitable, but an incipient depression is an inopportune time for government-backed zombie banks to make a quick buck from arranging massive new firings. There is no social value added unless the firees can find productive work elsewhere in the economy, which looks like a poor bet right now.