How Uncle Sam will profit from TARP

By Jia Lynn Yang, writer


WASHINGTON (Fortune) -- Guess what? The federal government will make money on bailing out the banks.

According to new numbers issued today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, a key part of the much-loathed Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, has become a profit center for the U.S. government.

Should the federal government impose special fees on banks in order to recoup some of the bailout funds?
  • Yes
  • No
  • Not sure

The CBO projects the government will ultimately make a profit of $7 billion from assisting the banks: $3 billion from the Capital Purchase Program, in which the government propped up banks by purchasing preferred stock; $2 billion from helping Citigroup (C, Fortune 500); and another $2 billion from helping Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500).

In other words, the banks are on track not only to pay taxpayers back all the $200 billion plus we've lent them, but put a dent -- albeit a small one -- in our enormous budget deficits.

President Obama recently proposed a $90 billion tax on the banks to "recover every single dime the American people are owed." But if taxpayers really want their money back from TARP, which the CBO now estimates will cost $99 billion, they should go knocking on the doors of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), GM, and Chrysler.

CBO projects the government will lose $9 billion from helping AIG, and another $47 billion from saving the auto industry. Yet another suck on taxpayer money: the $20 billion that will be lost from the Home Affordable Mortgage Program.

What's more surprising from today's numbers is that CBO estimates, in the near term at least, TARP is helping the budget: $67 billion for fiscal year 2010.

That's because last year CBO thought TARP would be much worse off, losing $356 billion in the program's lifetime; the agency went ahead and recorded $151 billion in subsidy costs for 2009. Since CBO's new, lower estimate on TARP's cost is $99 billion, to make up for last year's overly pessimistic outlook, it's recording a $67 billion profit on TARP for 2010.

Considering that this year's deficit is projected to be $65 billion less than last year's, we can thank TARP (and the bank's repayments) for the 2010 deficit's marginal improvement.

Who knew: When it comes to the $1.3 trillion federal budget deficit, the bank bailout portion of TARP isn't the problem. It's part of the solution. To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.