Audit of the Federal Reserve Reveals $16 Trillion in Secret Bailouts

[bhikkhu]

35. It might also add that all the sums were paid back

...which kind of takes the edge off the "16 TRILLION!" thing. The one legitimate complaint about the program is that the loans were at a lower-than-market rate, which might not have been absolutely necessary. If the loans were at market rates, then the program might have made some millions more in interest...I forget the exact figure, but it wasn't huge in perspective.

The one other annoying thing about the story is, if anyone has been paying attention, the whole "secret loans revelation" meme has been trotted out regularly since shortly after the program was announced (very publicly) in 2008. A quick google search brings up lists of articles from here to then, though it seems there are still enough journalists around who's google-buttons are broken, and who never heard or the TARP program before, to keep the meme going with each new independent discovery.


edited to correct: not all the sums have been paid back. There are supposed to be a few billion still unpaid, but these were to banks on the edge of failure that haven't quite failed yet, but probably will. At which point the FDIC covers the sums outstanding, and then its more or less a wash as they would have had to anyway.