Dream of Taxpayer Bailout Profit Is Just That

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April 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury Department wantsthe public to believe the government’s bailouts of the financialsector might make money for taxpayers. It’s easy to see why.

If the government could show an overall profit, theimplication would be that bailouts must be a good thing. Putaside the moral hazard they create, by encouraging recklessbehavior. Never mind that the country’s largest too-big-to-failbanks are larger today than when the financial crisis began in2007. The leaders who pulled off this amazing feat would deserveour praise, and everything will have worked out for the best --or so goes this line of thought.