More on the Chicago plant seizure

"I hope the new president will make good decisions..." --Apolinar Cabrena, Republic worker

We’re beginning to see just what the corporate bailout was really all about. The $800 billion we gave to Wall Street was supposed to drive investment and new loans to home owners and manufacturers so as to stave off a more massive global financial collapse. But instead, it seems that the giant banks have taken the money and run. Bank of America's withholding of loans to Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors led to a plant closing without notice and hundreds of angry workers seizing the plant until they receive the pay that's due them.

"It's tough. It's really tough," said Apolinar Cabrena, 43, who had worked for the company for 17 years. Cabrena's wife is pregnant and expects to deliver around Christmas. He's got a mortgage and two other children to worry about and is owed eight weeks of unused vacation pay and two months of severance. "I know the economy is bad, not just for me but for everybody," Cabrena said after he stepped outside the factory to speak to AFP on Friday evening. "I have a lot of hope that next year, with a new president, he'll make good decisions and invest money in industry so I can get another job as soon as possible."

See more on the Republic plant seizure on brother Fred’s blog, including his pics.

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Now that same Bank of America has been found liable in this $141 million fraud scheme. It seems they keep two sets of books. Doesn't someone check on things like this before we give them billions of our dollars? Shouldn't these guys be worried about bail instead of bailouts?