That's pure fiction unless you know someone in the Administration who tells you otherwise.

"The terms on which WS "repaid" TARP and bought back options were about the minimum that would not be seen as outright gifts "

More fiction - if McCain had won they would have been allowed to cancel the warrants which they were demanding strongly.

"revenue to make those payments came largely from WS arbitrage of the difference between the Fed cost of funds and what they could get in the market. I.E. the public gave them free money for them to lend at interest. "

Wrong again. By the way, the discount window was not invented by the Obama administration.

"The whole TARP issue is only the tip of the iceberg of Fed and Treasury assistance to TBTFs, and this has been to the detriment of the "real economy", which has continued to wither."

Which is why we have just had the longest period of manufacturing growth in 20 years.

"Small banks didn't get TARP money, but mid sized regional banks, such as my bank, Bank of the Ozarks, did, at Treasury insistence, under Paulson. "

And that's not even false, it's Republican PR bullshit. The records are online - look it up.

Keep reading Yves Smith and keep believing RW propaganda and calling it "left".

Oh, and they understood how much and how long these funds, including QE I and QE 2 would last and were able to "invest" them in markets, such as the stock markets, which they effectively have manipulated.

QE1&2, as I understand it, involved US sovereign bonds. Insofar as this is the case, the only extraordinary thing about them is that they are considered extraordinary.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

red herrings to throw off the scent of regulator bloodhounds?

this whole global heist analysis is becoming like an agatha christie whodunit.

and the best de-veilers are right here!

layer by layer, the obfuscatory games are laid bare, and soon the whole world will know if the butler dunnit or not.

was it the colonel with the candelabra?

i still have dreams of paulson in the stocks outside the wall street skyscrapers, getting pelted with defunct 401Ks.

here's beppe grillo's remodded 'animal farm' take on it.
Beppe Grillo's Blog

A gentleman called PIG, is about to go bust. He's got a great idea. In order to survive, he's selling his debts. He calls them State Bonds. Many people are buying them; they only want a low rate of interest and a tiny bit of interest when the capital is returned when the loan arrangement ends. Mr PIG has found the system for living above his means. He continues to get debts and to sell them. His family accounts however get worse and to protect themselves, those who buy his bonds, are asking for a higher rate of interest. Mr PIG is obliged to increase the interest rates. Over time, the situation becomes critical. The number of people buying the debt goes down as they are afraid of the risk. The debt is no longer triple A minusminus, but a triple B plusplus. The time will come when Mr PIG is no longer able to pay the interest. The neighbours of Mr PIG who have lent him most of the money, have nothing to gain by making him go bust. If he goes bust they will lose their money. Thus they offer him a loan with lots of conditions, something they call a "bail out".
Mr PIG is obliged to accept so as not to go bust. When the money from the loan dries up, Mr PIG finds he's paying more interest than before. Those who have lent him money have only gained time and now they are doubly at risk, they can lose both the State bonds and the loan that is the bail out.
Mr PIG, technically a bankrupt, is thus able to raise his voice as though it were he that had lent money to the others. He threatens to restructure the debt. In other words, those who bought his bonds at 100 will see the value halved to 50 and Mr PIG will be freed of half the debt with no one being able to stop him doing so. The creditors, who are ever more worried, don't know which way to turn. In fact, the State bonds, like those of any company quoted on the Stock Exchange, can lose their value. The creditors have one thing in common with Mr PIG, the currency. Once upon a time, Mr PIG used the Drachma, now the Euro. His behaviour is putting at risk the good name of the currency of the virtuous gentlemen that have no debts or few debts. The Euro cannot be compromised. The neighbours can throw out Mr bankrupt PIG from the Euro and see part of their credit go up in smoke for ever or continue to give him finance with one "bail out" after another. Germany and France have about 250 billion dollars in Greek State bonds and because of Mr PIG, the Euro is losing value in relation to the dollar and the yuan. Mr PIG leaves the Euro and his State bonds become waste paper. I would like to find the logic and the moral of the story, but I cannot.

i don't either, unless it's 'the cunning always cheat the weak'.

;(

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty