The Modern Independent

TARP and the Bailouts A Boon to Tax-Payers

From Bloomberg:

The government has earned $25.2 billion on its investment of $309 billion in banks and insurance companies, an 8.2 percent return over two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That beat U.S. Treasuries, high-yield savings accounts, money- market funds and certificates of deposit. Investing in the stock market or gold would have paid off better.

When the government first announced its intention to plow funds into the nation’s banks in October 2008 to resuscitate the financial system, many expected it to lose hundreds of billions of dollars. Two years later TARP’s bank and insurance investments have made money, and about two-thirds of the funds have been paid back.

Not only did the Bailouts of Wall Street save the national and global economy from unmitigated disaster, and not only did it keep the economic recession from becoming an economic depression, but it has actually given the tax-payers a return on their investment.  

Here is my question for opponents of TARP: Is your opposition to the bailouts so ardent that the $25.2 billion in government earnings should be returned?  Here is my question to Democrats who are running away from their record: Why not turn this economic news into political capital?  In all the public discourse surrounding TARP’s supposed failures, Democrats have largely ignored this kind of news on the campaign trail.