Comments on: Gasp! Horror! The Government is MAKING Money on the TARP?

By: jace

jace — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:34:09 +0000

You and I ARE the government.
When will you see the profits? You will see the profits in the form of slightly lower taxes, or slightly greater gov’t services if Congress and the new president choose to spend it. I do not trust them to spend wisely so I would rather have lower taxes but those are the 2 choices or some combo of the two.
Why did we bail them if they are turning a profit so quickly? Because fear and panic, drove stock prices down quickly for reasons not based on the fundamentals of the stocks, so the stocks went up rapidly causing the profit by the gov’t.
I have no problem with this profit

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:52:14 +0000

Yes, actually it is horrible. The government shouldn’t be in business at all.

That’s socialism.

By: sheila mannix

sheila mannix — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:35:17 +0000

This is all fairy-dust being sprinkled on the public’s rose colored glasses. I’ll reference just one bail-out, not to long ago,called the,”S&L Bailout”(1987-93)that cost the american taxpayers $124 Billion USD out of a total $150 Billion USD put in totally! Now, when these banks we bailed out,ie.)Citigroup is my best example, the warrants, and preferred(shares)stock will be worthless,which I feel the public isn’t being fairly educated about. Thanks Brian,Oh I watch your ole partner Dylan religiosly,…

By: nor

nor — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:29:07 +0000

Gosh!! I hope wall street don’t hear about this. It might cause them to turn a profit too instead of nose diving every time a challenge faces them. What a mess!!!!!

By: T Barton

T Barton — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:47:27 +0000

Profit is an incorrect way of looking at the governments “gain”. More accurately it is a 100% tax on the stock and dividends. This is a very dangerous precedent.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:07:46 +0000

By the way, if they actually do make a profit, do you think they will end up sending it back to the taxpayers?? Naw, they will just either 1. Shore up there own govt balance sheet or 2. Fund another govt agency. I suspect the latter. Of course, this “profit” will be after bonuses are paid out to the executives.

Wow, what a poor investment equation. Taxpayers take all the risk but they don’t actually receive any reward.

I hope I’m wrong.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:56:10 +0000

If they turned a profit so quick, then why did we need to bail them out in the first place??

By: Listening in Texas

Listening in Texas — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Do we know which companies are included in the 184 companies? How much was “invested” in each and what did the government get in return?

Did the government purchase stocks in each of them? What is the percentage of ownership did the government acquire? How many real investors dumped those stocks; and what did the value of those stocks do when the government purchased them? What would those stocks have done if the government did NOT purchase them?

Is there a benchmark that the government would “sell” those stocks to get the money back? If so, then what actually will happen with that “profit”? will it be put back to reduce the amount borrowed or will the $700 billion become a slush fund to bail out other companies?

At what point has this become a hostile takeover as opposed to a bailout or loan?

I am not sure where we are seeing the “good news” yet. If we follow the ball for what happened in the Great Depression; it was primarily due to Government interference. If we raise tarriffs on goods; then those counties will retaliate just as the 66 countries did in the Great Depression contributing to its worsening.

There are many similarities to what is happening now. The more government gets involved in private sectors; the worse this will get.

By: Christopher Hightower

Christopher Hightower — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:39:28 +0000

I would hope any investors could make a little money with $247.26 billion; I know I could.

The key in your post is: “currently valued at $255.10 billion”. The day before you buy a new car the current value is much higher than the day you drive it off the lot. Time will tell. And it’s a little too early to be counting those eggs, because I’m not seeing any chickens, yet.

Another way we should measure profits in is: Purchasing power. With the devaluation of the dollar, everyone should be “making more money” because the value of money has gone down. Stocks should be rising with the inflation of the money supply.

By: Listening in Texas

Listening in Texas — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:13:24 +0000

How much control is the government creating for itself over private enterprises?

If the government is a vested partner in all these companies; what say and influence will it have in addition to regulatory processes? Is this not about CONTROL of everyone for and by the government?

President Reagan had it right “government is not the SOLUTION to the problem; government IS the PROBLEM!”