CNNMoney: Taxpayers Still Owed More Than $200 Billion From BailoutsTuesday, 11 Sep 2012 05:23 PM Some of the big corporate bailouts by taxpayers from 2008, which so angered many Americans, have actually ended in a profit for the federal government. But there is more than $200 billion still owed and outstanding. The government will probably lose money on the bailouts of automakers General Motors and Chrysler, according to Treasury figures cited by CNNMoney. GM received $51 billion in bailout funds and repaid about $24 billion so far. But GM shares would need to rise to almost $57 a share from its current price of just over $23 for taxpayers to be made whole – a tall order. Meanwhile, some of the government monies paid out to Chrysler Group has already been written off. Chrysler, now controlled by Italian automaker Fiat, left a tab of $1.3 billion for U.S. taxpayers to pay off from its total infusion of $12.4 billion. Another auto-related recipient, auto and home finance firm Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), received $16.3 billion but has only paid $5.7 billion back to date. Ally may not be able to pay the difference without a successful IPO. But not all is gloomy on the government bailout front. Treasury reported the American International Group (AIG) rescue has already turned a profit of $12.4 billion for taxpayers. “To stabilize and then restructure the company with a very substantial positive gain for the American taxpayer is a significant accomplishment,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a prepared statement. Treasury records show the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for “too big to fail” institutions such as Citigroup, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs turned a $25 billion profit. But about $14.8 billion is still owed by nearly 400 smaller banks. Finally, the biggest recipients of taxpayer largesse – mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are still a large black cloud over taxpayers. They received about $187.5 billion, but have only paid back $70.7 billion in dividends and profit. Treasury estimated more than $10 billion is also yet to be prepaid from smaller TARP programs. |