Just like in the Quantitative Easing Explained video, this one on the bank bailouts gets down to brass tacks. It strips away all the government propaganda that taxpayers profited from the bailouts by revealing some of the many backdoor bailouts banks have received. Even today, with short-term interest rates at zero percent, banks are still getting a massive back door bailout from the Federal Reserve, while savers are penalised by getting nothing.
For examples of the back door bailouts, choose any of the following posts:
- The nationalization of America’s mortgage problem, Sep 2008
- Quote of the day: Nationalized banking predators, Oct 2008
- Capital One buys Chevy Chase Bank: Another bailout freebie, Dec 2008
- Bank of America: Bailout hides huge bank subsidy deep in press release text, Jan 2009
- TALF: A bailout if one reads the fine print, Feb 2009
- How big banks earned so much money this quarter, Apr 2009
- Insurance companies now feeding at the TARP trough, May 2009
- GMAC gets a helping hand, May 2009
- Some banks not paying TARP dividends, Oct 2009
- TARP was sold to Americans under false pretenses, Oct 2009
- What would an alternative to bailouts have looked like?, Nov 2009
- U.S. forfeiting billions in future taxes to let Citi repay TARP, Dec 2009
- GMAC in line for another $3.5 billion in bailout money, Dec 2009
- The smoking gun in the AIG – Geithner cover up, Jan 2010
- Tim Geithner impersonates Jack Nicholson… again, Jan 2010
- Black and the AIG cover-up of the cover-up of the cover-up, Jan 2010
- Chart of the day: Clusterstock – How the AIG bailout worked, Jan 2010
- Are the housing bailouts for banks or borrowers?, Apr 2010
- Some Thoughts On The Fed and Bank Bailouts, Dec 2010
There is substantial evidence that the bailouts were not just via TARP and not just banks benefitted. There were numerous ways government hid bailouts and bank subsidies in order to present a favourable picture. The posts above identify some of this. Despite the propaganda machine’s attempts to label TARP a success, it was not.