Replies

Don't forget that the original TARP plan was incremental and although it was authorized for as much as $700 Billion under Bush, only about 400 was actually dispersed.

That amount had some strings attached and the banking institutions were held (somewhat) to a repayment schedule of not being allowed to take profits until payback milestones were made. Somewhere near 60% of the bank loans were paid back in reasonably short order. But, the repayment of business loans almost halted completely in the next year as the Obama team took over and preferred government "participation" in the companies to actually recapturing the funds.

That program of taking shares of private industry continued through the huge Obama bailout efforts that were to follow with few strings attached beyond government ownership.