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Comment by flanked-evergl | Hacker News Reader

All the money lent to banks via TARP during the 2008 crisis was paid back with interest.

The government(and taxpayers I assume) actually made out pretty well on the bailout loans. Considering the government still owns 99% of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, after retaining billions in profits over the last decade and a half.

Yes, US Treasury has gotten profit from Fannie/Freddie. However, there is concern from OMB that risk is not properly being calculated and thus in event of small housing crisis, US Government would have to back stop them again and possibly wipe out any profits gained.

The primary bailout during the 2008 housing crisis went to homeowners, not to banks through TARP. The secondary bailout was to banks, the Fed bought up trillions of dollars worth of garbage housing assets. That homeowner bailout was never paid back: it damaged the economy in the form of dollar debasement (ie lower purchasing power for everybody holding dollars). The Fed increased its balance sheet 400% in six years, and never looked back. The housing bailout was trillions of dollars, meant to keep that gigantic housing asset pool inflated artificially. We did it again during Covid, with another gigantic consumer bailout.

See: gold at $400 vs gold at $4,000. Aka the destruction of the USD.

Inflation was stable and pretty low for the 10 years after the financial crisis.

Gold wasn't at $400 per oz before the financial crisis, and the spike in gold prices was fairly recent.

Basically the financial crisis response didn't cause inflation, the covid response did.

The covid response was what the occupy protests told us the bailouts were. Never has there ever been a bigger transfer of wealth to the 1% than during the covid era.

TARP was a collection of programs and not a general loan facility.

More money was returned to the government than was disbursed under TARP.

Paid back with interest but also inflation.

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