The above amount represents the ownership share each U.S. taxpayer holds in the bailed-out banking industry, according to the New York Times’ informal calculations:

This figure is based on the $250 billion that the Treasury Department is investing in banks to prod them to start lending again. We divided $250 billion by 140 million, which the Internal Revenue Service says is the number of individual tax returns filed last year. By our count, that gives every taxpayer a $1,785.71 stake in JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and the rest.

How to exercise this fiduciary people-power? The leading suggestion is to eliminate ATM fees. Personally, I’d settle for a quickie buy-out of my share, at a premium of, say, 500 percent.