Source: bankofobama.org

We're all funding the Great American Bailout. So where's your check?

Three guys in Austin who were having a few brews at the local pub were asking just that. Being true Americans, they decided if they couldn't get a bailout, they'd make a bale of money by mocking the bailout.

The three have created Bank of Obama, "because everybody deserves a bailout". The website allows you to fill out a blank check, signed by the President himself, and send it to friends and family for any purpose. The cost is $2.99 a check, plus $1 for shipping. You can also send virtual checks by opening an account for 99 cents.

No, these are not real checks. Calm down.

"Customers have been having lots of fun with it, sending them for gifts such as birthdays and graduations," Bill Solominsky tells me. He, along with pub pals Brian Buser and Brandon Williams, "founded" the bank. "We started the site as a way to make light of the current economic situation, and we have had an overwhelming positive response."

They launched the site in February, and Solominsky says they've sold 34,000 checks so far. "We have turned a profit," he says, saying he'd like his own bailout for business start up expenses and to pay for his recent wedding. Good luck with that. A young, intelligent entrepreneur looking for seed money to build his American dream may find himself disappointed if he looks to Washington. He's not a failure. Only failures get help.

Buyers can designate what their Bank of Obama bailout checks should go towards--seven percent have been written to cover "gambling debts". The largest percentage of the fake checks have been sent to help cover mortgage payments.

Hey, maybe lenders will accept them and buy you a little more time!

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