Settlement slush funds

Back in May, I testified (and blogged) about a dubious feature of the government's multibillion-dollar settlement agreements with the big banks: These agreements provide for hundreds of millions of dollars in "donations" to various "community development" organizations that were neither parties to the case nor victims of the alleged wrongdoing. Investor's Business Daily has characterized these payments as "political payoffs to Obama constituency groups." Today, George F. Will has an excellent column about this troubling practice, here.