What was bailed out? Of the initial “investments” and loans, the payback was more than the payout. They were certainly something you wish the private sector could have done, and many would have, except nobody had any money.
I think people forget how bad the monetary situation was. Banks were giving investors 5% interest on long-term CDs, not because of inflation, but simply because they needed cash.
If banks were unable to make it, then they should have been allowed to make it or not. It’s not for the government to determine.
Whenever the government interferes to keep a company solvent that otherwise would not be, whether it’s a banking firm, an automaker, or any other business, that’s a bailout. They do it time after time after time, with our money.
If banks had to reduce their payouts to stay in business, then that’s what they had to do.
Government has no money unless it takes the money from someone (you and me.) Who was harmed to bail out the big banks?
But perhaps the worst aspect of TARP was allowing the Secretary of the Treasury sole discretion to determine whether firms shall stay in business or go out of business, with no possibility of appeal to anyone by anyone.