The Bank that Maxine Waters got government help for was probably a special case

Waters' trial could prove to be very tough for Democrats.

When then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced creation of the so-called "Capital Purchase Program" in October 2008, he said it was directed at "healthy institutions." Nevertheless OneUnited Bank of Boston received a $12.1 million capital injection from the Treasury Department on Dec. 19, 2008. The money has not been repaid, according to Treasury Department documents.
Records show that as of Sept. 30, 2008, the latest quarter before the investment, OneUnited had "Tier 1 capital" of just 1.8 percent of assets. Of the 363 banks that got TARP money in the fourth quarter of 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, that was the lowest Tier 1 ratio.
In fact, none of the 987 banks that got TARP money between October 2008 and December 2009 reported a lower ratio in the quarter before they received federal cash. . . .
Tier 1 capital, which includes equity plus disclosed reserves, is considered by many banking experts to be the best way to gauge a bank's financial health. Banks are required to have a minimum Tier 1 ratio of 3 or 4 percent, depending on their classification, according to rules posted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.