Here is some good news to start your weekend on. Timothy Geithner just announced that the total costs of the bailouts are projected to be only $87 billion.
A far cry from the $400 billion that talking heads have been bandying about; or the 'trillions and trillions and gazillions' that the teabaggers have been clucking about.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
TARP losses should total about $117 billion , Geithner said in his nine-page letter.
That includes $48 billion that went to AIG, $28 billion to General Motors , Chrysler and their financing firms, and $49 billion to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Offsetting those losses somewhat are projected net gains of $9 billion from several Treasury TARP programs aimed at helping banks recover.
Separately, help for mortgage finance titans Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae , now in government conservatorship, should account for $85 billion in other losses.
However, earnings on the Federal Reserve's creative finance programs not only saved many banks from going under, but they're also now projected to earn $115 billion more than they cost.
So to recap- TARP losses of $117 billion; TARP profits of $115 billion; and Fannie/Freddie losses of $85 billion. All totals out to a $87 billion loss for the Bailouts.
Not bad for rescuing us from the biggest recession since the Great Depression. The S&L crisis that occured under President Reagan, for comparison, cost the taxpayers $124 billion to date. GW Bush's Excellent Adventure in Iraq, from 2003 through 2009, has cost us $687 billion. And TARP is costing us far less than the 10 year cost of $720 billion projected for GW Bush's unfunded Medicare Part D "we pay MSRP" giveaway.
Not too shabby for Kenyan Socialism!