One of the effects of the massive bank bailout issued last year was supposed to be an increase in consumer lending. Banks were to receive huge infusions of cash, become more liquid, and then begin lending more money to regular folks. (The whole plan was based on a "trickle down" mentality.)

Well — no surprise here — it didn't work. From Citi (whose cash is running out even with cash infusions) on down, big banks that have received the bailout money have used it mainly to do other things. Countless other things. And even though the bailout was meant to increase consumer lending, credit requirements have tightened and rejection letters are flying fast.

Not that I'm opposed to less consumer lending. I think it's fabulous that consumer lending is down and the savings rate is increasing. It's just annoying that big companies get billions and billions of taxpayer dollars and don't bother to actually help the taxpayers.

Well, now the government aims to stop this by tracking lending. The Street reports on the new plan for checking up on lenders:

This sort of goes in line with efforts to make the government a better gatekeeper. If the government is going to give our money away, they might as well monitor it.