ESTO ES UN ROBBO

NUEVO BANZAI7 MADRID--With unemployment approaching 20 percent, the highest in Europe, and the overall economy expected to shrink by 4.2 percent this year, bank robberies in Spain are running 20 percent ahead of 2007’s pace, according to the Spanish Banking Association.

“In recent months, it has become apparent that Spain is suffering from an increase in bank robberies,” said Francisco Pérez Abellán, head of the criminology department at the University of Camilo José Cela in Madrid.

"The situation is very different from the United States States where unemployment is running close to 10%, the overall economy is sinking faster than a securitised cement shoe and robberies by Wall Street bankers led by the Goldman gang are occurring at a record pace."

The top cop tracking the $700 billion TARP bailout program said Monday that he's concerned federal officials are ignoring his proposals for preventing tax dollars from being wasted or pilfered.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, released a 260-page report detailing a long list of concerns about government efforts to prop up hundreds of banks, Wall Street firms and auto companies.

Mr Barofsky is reported to have called Mr Abellan to tell him the situation in Spain is a kindergarden game compared to what he is dealing with.