It appears CIT will be another instance where TARP money was a waste. I'd say the whole program was a waste. But we can't prove a counterfactual - just as we can't prove the premise that was used to scare us to approve the bodaciously funded bailout projects.

How is it that the US Govt may lose all its $2.3B on CIT, but John Paulson won't? Something is wrong here. What were we doing investing in CIT in the first place? Surely we shouldn't have a lower claim than Paulson.

Then again, what is Obama/Geithner doing in investing in CIT, to the tune of a huge $2.3B, and the company still fails so quickly.

We can't accept this from Geithner/Obama. They toasted money.

Different than past financial crises, the financial industry spent the past decade buying financial paper issued by financial companies. ALL the past financial crises were mainly about financial companies investing in the true economy - not themselves. Nobody is telling you about the true ramifications of this. It is a huge difference that only few understand. It is the difference between a casino (financial companies buying paper from themselves) and going to a bank for a business loan. If a casino fails - no big deal. So why are we, as in the case of CIT - putting money into casinos?

How is it that the US Govt invested on the way down in Goldman Sachs, after Buffett did, and Buffett is reaping huge rewards while we got a capped out profit and Goldman Sachs has made a mockery of us by gamning the rules and regulations (not a bank, then a bank so give me the TARP, FedRes etc. money!, hee, hee, we want less oversight so ... not a bank again => all within 9 months)?

Isn't it obvious? Revolutions were based on less apparent manipulation.

Where is William Jennings Bryan when we need him? Thomas Jefferson? Andrew Jackson?

Instead we have Obama and Geithner. The former now with his first managerial job, the latter a flagrantly failed regulator.