Bank Bailout Program

But would it have been worse if the Bank Bailout program was not implemented? And at quite a cost to the U. S. taxpayer. There has been a recent announcement that the government is expected to make a $12.3 billion profit on the $45 billion investment in Citigroup (NYSE: C). Treasury's acting assistant secretary for the bailout program said in a statement: "Our investment in Citigroup has produced a significant profit for taxpayers. As we exit our investments ... it's clear that the cost of the TARP program will be a fraction of what many had once feared during the depths of the crisis."

The U.S. government made $13.5 billion selling its stake in General Motors (NYSE: GM), and it'll soon be selling its stake in AIG (NYSE: AIG). Treasury provided a total of $410 billion in disbursements from the TARP fund. With the Citigroup warrant auction, the amount that Treasury has received back in repayments and income on its investments totals $271 billion, Treasury said.

With that said, TARP is still expected to cost taxpayers $28 billion. It's a scary thought that $28 billion is less expensive to taxpayers than we first feared.

The government warned that banks were too big to fail, but then allowed and encouraged banks JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) -- alias J.P. Morgan Chase Bear Stearns Washington Mutual -- and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) -- aka Bank of America Countrywide Merrill Lynch -- to acquire other banks. What about some other absurdities from the financial crisis, like ex-Merrill CEO John Thain, now CEO of CIT Group (NYSE: CIT), using company money to buy a $70,000 desk while his bank was receiving taxpayer support. To be fair, the information is wrong. The desk was only $18,000; the credenza cost $70,000.