Or Zombie Banks 1, Taxpayers 0.

In reality was looking for a minus infinity symbol but blogspot is woefully inadequate when expressing involuntary taxpayer performance. The latest shock to the U.S. taxpayer came last Friday when the Ethisphere TARP index recorded a $21 billion drop in value. The TARP Index, created by the Ethisphere Institute, tracks the U.S. Federal Government's return under its TARP investments. Out of the $306.1 billion so far handed out under TARP since its inception, there has been an unrealized loss of $123 billion, compliments mostly of the big 4: C, BAC, WFC and JPM. In other words, the U.S. Government (and its taxpaying funders) has lost over 40% of their investment. This translates into a loss of $1,082 per every US household, roughly double the proposed stimulus tax credit.

A state of white sand beaches, mountain trails, and historic sites - no, not Hawaii; we are talking about South Carolina. Some other facts that you may not know about South Carolina follow:

1. South Carolina’s GSP ranks 28th nationally, with a total of $152 billion.
2. The state offers low corporate income taxes and no state property tax as a way to attract new business to the state.
3. Tourism industry produces $16.7 billion each year.
4. The top agricultural commodities are broilers, greenhouse and floriculture products, turkeys and cattle and calves.
5. South Carolina’s agribusiness provides employment for 200,000 workers.
6. Forests cover 2/3 of South Carolina’s surface and they provide for one of the state’s most valuable crops: timber, which produces $835 million annually.
7. Mined minerals within the state have a value of $480 million.
8. South Carolina is the top of producer of cement, and second in the production of kaolin.
9. The state exports transportation equipment, chemical manufactures, and machinery manufactures, for a total of $9.8 billion.
10. The top destination for South Carolina’s export is Germany, Canada, and Mexico.

The following companies are headquartered in South Carolina:

Although the big advantage to investing in these stocks is the much higher yield than a passbook account, the significant risks should be considered. First, if interest rates rise, the profit margins on their fixed loans will be squeezed. Second, most banks issued a substantial number of ‘risky’ loans [high loan to equity, low credit quality, etc] over the last few years. In addition, a continued drop in housing prices would lead to more foreclosures. One other important factor to be careful of with regards to many of these bank stocks, is the lack of liquidity. For example, NB&T Financial Group Inc. (NBTF) hasn’t traded since December 12. And because of the illiquidity, the bid and asked spread can be very wide.