Many pundits and “economists” are claiming that this failed bailout would in the end “make the taxpayers money.” It’s a chance for the Treasury to buy low and sell high. But this article by Andy Kessler in the Wall St. Journal, in attempting to make this argument, let’s the truth slip out. He states that:
“My analysis suggests that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (a former
investment banker, no less, not a trader) may pull off the mother of
all trades, which could net a trillion dollars and maybe as much as
$2.2 trillion — yes, with a “t” — for the United States Treasury.”
That’s right, any money that will be made from this fiasco will not be made for the US taxpayer but for the US Treasury–the government. Even if Kessler’s predictions are correct, this money will never be returned to the taxpayers who originally shelled out the bailout funds. These profits will go toward new government spending and new programs. If cash starts flowing in from eventual sales of assets that might be bought up today does anyone realistically thing that a future President and Congress will hand it back in the form of a tax cut, particularly to those who it was taken from in the first place, which would be mostly taxpayers in the top 10 percent of income earners. No, once that $700 billion is taken from us, we will never see it again. It is under the control of bureaucrats and wealth redistributers. That $2.2 trillion will go to finance every new left wing entitlement program ever mentioned in the last 20 years.
