Speaking of wealth redistribution (up), here is a good compliment to Randy Wray and J. Andrew Felkerson's post on the Fed bailouts.
I find it really depressing that I have to write this. But it seems I have to write it.
Substantially all of the TARP funds advanced to banks have been paid back, with interest and sometimes even with a profit from sales of warrants. Most of the (much larger) extraordinary liquidity facilities advanced by the Fed have also been wound down without credit losses. So there really was no bailout, right? The banks took loans and paid them back.
Bullshit.
Read the rest at Interfluidity
by Steve Randy Waldman
See also
at The Huffington Post
The government's bailout of banks may cost U.S. taxpayers nearly two times more than originally estimated, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Troubled Asset Released Program, better known as TARP, will cost the federal government $34 billion, the CBO reported on its director's blog. That's $15 billion higher than the agency's previous estimate in March. The increase in the estimate is mostly due to a drop in the market value of the government's investments in American International Group and General Motors.
