It was nice to read Will on page 18 of Newsweek after suffering through Daniel Gross? page 17 column, which claims taxpayers are reaping the rewards of the first federal bailout bill.
The pulled quote proclaims: ?On the first round of investments, taxpayers have gotten a 17.5 percent return ? better than most hedge funds have earned lately.?
Of course, there?s a difference: individual taxpayers will never see any return from the bailout ?investments.? It?s telling that the Newsweek Web site teases Gross? column with this line: ?How the Government is Profiting from TARP.? [Emphasis added.] The ?government? is not the same as the taxpayer.
Roy Cordato has explained for us before why government bailouts retard economic growth, including this segment from a Carolina Journal Radio interview with Donna Martinez.
