The U.S. Goverment Exacts up to 9% Interest on Banks

What is your credit card rate?  Mine is 13%, but then again I only have a modest credit line with American Express.  Up until now I was under the impression that our government simply handed over $700b in RISKY TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) loans with the great expectations that the recipients would repay.

To date we have earned $6b in interest fees from banks.  Revealed in a linked GAO (Government Accountability Office) report, by the Propublica website devoted to shining sunshine on the abstraction that can be the US Treasury’s activities, the underlying rules of the bailout were a bit more comforting that the digested sound bytes bounced off of satellites around the world.  Below is a table compiled by the Treasury Department:

TARP Dividend Payments Received as of June 30, 2009 (Dollars in thousands)

Program: Capital Purchase Program (CPP):
Dividend payments received: $5.2b;
Cumulative dividends not declared and not paid: $5.9b;
Noncumulative dividends not declared and not paid: $802m.

Program: Targeted Investment Program (TIP):
Dividend payments received: $1.1b;
Cumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none];
Noncumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none].

Program: Automotive Industry Financing Program[A] (AIFP):
Dividend payments received: $159.6m;
Cumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none];
Noncumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none].

Program: Asset Guarantee Program (AGP):
Dividend payments received: $107.5m;
Cumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none];
Noncumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none].

Program: Systemically Significant Failing Institutions Program (SSFI):
Dividend payments received: [Empty];
Cumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none];
Noncumulative dividends not declared and not paid: [none].

Program: Total:
Dividend payments received: $6,650,758b;
Cumulative dividends not declared and not paid: $5,962b;
Noncumulative dividends not declared and not paid: $802m.

Source: Treasury OFS, unaudited.