Yes, TARP Cost Money

ProPublica speaks for the public, and says: Yes, despite what you've hoid from the administration, TARP still seems to have cost us the people a load of bucks. Some details:

At ProPublica, we've provided a comprehensive bailout database since TARP's launch. It shows not only how much money has gone to each recipient, but how much each has paid in interest and dividend payments. With all this data, we're able to clearly show how deep in the hole the program remains. And the answer as of today is $123 billion.

Add that to the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—which our site also tracks and is separate from the TARP—and taxpayers are $257 billion in the hole.

Although the bailout has extended to nearly a thousand institutions, just a few are primarily responsible for the continued deficit: Fannie and Freddie, of course, AIG, and the auto companies (GM, Chrysler, GMAC).

As for Fannie and Freddie, no solution seems imminent. They're currently $134 billion in the red (counting their dividend payments)—more than the entire TARP. Congress and the administration are in the initial stages of discussing how the companies should be wound down and how much of the investment could be recouped…..

Our Tim Cavanaugh has tracked TARP early and often.