Obama Administration: $200 Billion to be Slashed from Bailout Costs

[The Straight Story]

Obama Administration: $200 Billion to be Slashed from Bailout Costs

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Treasury official says the Obama administration plans to cut its estimate of the projected costs of the government bailout program by more than $200 billion.

The official said Sunday that the administration now believes the cost of the program would be at least $200 billion below the $341 billion estimate it made in August.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the administration's new projection has not been presented to Congress, said the reduced cost estimate reflected faster repayments by big banks and less spending on some of the programs.

http://www.news10.net/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=71454&catid=5

[metapunditedgy]

1. Costs??? I thought all these loans to banks were supposed to turn a profit?

Where are the people now who said taxpayers might even turn a profit?

[readmoreoften]

2. I've got a program he can cut.

But then we'd lose the pipeline and heroin money.

[Amonester]

3. So true.

Of course, the we in "we'd lose that money" isn't the same we as the we in "we, the people"

[HamdenRice]

4. Good news! It also shows that the budgeting was very conservative

When the TARP bill was passed, Barney Frank said it was designed to ensure that the taxpayer would be paid back, but there was a big risk that they wouldn't get paid back. So they budgeted it as all cost, ie expenditure. As more and more TARP recipients pay back the funds, the estimated cost of the program as expenditure falls.

Also, the bailout had many elements other than TARP that are direct expenditures, like AIG, Fannie/Freddie, FDIC bank closings and the like.

[Vidar]

5. They're cutting the extimates of the bailouts, not the actual bailouts.

More lies for mass consumption.

[HamdenRice]

6. Actually, they are cutting projected losses from the bailouts

The bailouts were apparently budgeted as presuming a complete, 100% loss by the government on all TARP money.

As money gets paid back and expected losses don't materialize, the cost of the bailout drops.