Surprise! Government turns a profit on bailout

August 31, 2009 | By Jim Kim

The New York Times reports that the government, so far anyway, has turned a profit on all those bank bailouts--about 15 percent, or $4 billion. Of course, the bailout has a long way to run, and there may well be some losses on "investments" in the likes of AIG, Fannie and Freddie, not to mention the automakers.

Still, this does represent a bit of good news for those who feared the bailout would really tax the government. We can consider the bailout money well spent--at least so far. Could the government have managed an even bigger gain? Hey, you can't time the market! Seriously, the point is not to make money but to stabilize the system, but there's a long way to go, unfortunately. As of now, the profit isn't assuaging any worries about the FDIC's funds.

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- here's the article