June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Maybe it’s a sign of the times, or a manifestation of bailout fatigue, that news of lobbyists descending on the Federal Reserve creates little reaction and no outrage.

“Executives and lobbyists now flock to the Fed, providing elaborate presentations on why their niche industry should be eligible for Fed financing or easier lending terms,” writes the New York Times’s Edmund Andrews in a June 13 article.

There’s something different, even unseemly, about mobile- home manufacturers, equipment makers and car dealers lining up at the Fed with cup in hand. These, and other types of collateralized loans, are now TALF-eligible, along with commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities.

Perhaps it was inevitable that getting into the credit business would subject the Fed to all the political trappings. After all, if you hand out subsidies, people will come, Eisenbeis says. “This is the soup kitchen.”