TARP Return: -1096%

Even without doing the math, you probably get that the government's financial-rescue effort is failing.

But do the math, and you can begin to understand how really botched this bailout has been. Since October, the government has deposited $165 billion into the accounts of the nation's eight largest banks. Yet those same financial firms are now worth $418 billion less than they were four months ago, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government's preferred shares are worth at least $20 billion less. In Wall Street terms, that's throwing good money after bad. All told, the government's annualized rate of return on its investment in the nation's largest banks is -1,096%.

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My thoughts: Remember when you were told that the TARP was an investment that could make money for taxpayers? Congress actually had a straight face when they said it.