It's the second anniversary of TARP, and people are still angry about it. The program's costs, however, continue to drop; right now, they amount to $66 billion -- out of $700 billion spent -- and that number could continue to decrease. That's even with loss-leaders like the HAMP program, AIG and the auto bailouts included.
Friday, October 1, 2010
TARP, 2 Years Later
Tim Fernholz at TAPPED looks at the numbers,
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The odds of the taxpayers breaking even on GM seems pretty good. It looks like most of the haircuts will come from losses in connection with Chrysler and AIG. Chrysler is probably a lost cause. I don't see any way that the American people can break even on that bailout and it could easily collapse again. AIG isn't as much as a lost cause and could conceivably result in a break even or nearly break even return on the government's investment, although a lot of detail that has yet to play out goes into the determination.
It is certainly true, however, that the bailout is looking like it will be far less expensive that first feared, something that was also true in the case of Great Depression era bailout programs many of which also broke even or turned small profits in the end.
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