Taxpayers Still Owed $132.9 Billion from Bailout

According to a government watchdog, U.S. taxpayers are still owed $132.9 billion from companies haven't repaid from the financial bailout. Some of which will never be recovered...

The acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout, Christy Romero, as that the bailout launched at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 will continue to exist for years.

From the AP,

Some bailout programs, such as the effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing mortgage payments, will last as late as 2017, costing the government an additional $51 billion or so.

The gyrating stock market has slowed the Treasury Department's efforts to sell off its stakes in 458 bailed-out companies, the report says. They include insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG), General Motors Co. (GM) and Ally Financial Inc.

If the Treasury plans to sell its stock in the three companies at or above the price where taxpayers would break even on their investment, it could take an incredibly long time for the market to even rebound to that level. Shares for AIG closed on Wednesday at $25.31, which is more than $3 less than the break even point for taxpayers, while GM ended at $24.92, while needing to hit the $53.98-a-share break even point. Ally isn't publicly traded.

The government has unwound its investments in the companies that received the most aid: Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Chrysler Group LLC and Chrysler Financial.

$413.4 billion was paid out from the Congress authorized $700 billion for the bailout, also known as Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. So far the government has recovered only $318 billion.

&ldqu! o;TARP i s not over,” Romero said in a statement. She said that her office will continue to protect taxpayers for the duration of the program.

Liz Phair on Why Lana Del Rey Scares Rock’s Boys Club

Rolling Stone asked me to speak about Lana Del Rey. I wanted to know how big my participation in the piece would be–was it substantial or just a quote? Just a quote, they said, to which I replied that I wasn’t super interested. Which was a lie. I have a lot to say about her, but no sound bites. You see, Lana Del Rey is exactly what I was hoping to inspire when I took on the male rock establishment almost twenty years ago with my debut record, “Exile In Guyville.”
Let me break it down for you: she’s writing herself into existence. She’s giving herself a part to play because, God knows, no one else will and she wants to matter in this life. As far as I can tell, it’s working. I went straight to iTunes and bought her new release “Born To Die” in toto (how often do I do that??) because it was more than a collection of songs or a performance, it was a phenomenon. Maybe all the more so because she’s not overwhelmingly talented. The minute I hear the whisperings of “how dare she,” I’m interested. I don’t have to like it, it doesn’t have to be worthy.
Lana Del Rey seems to be bothering everybody because she allegedly “remade”! herself from a folk singing, girl-next-door type into an electro-urban kitty cat on the prowl (of course I like her), and they feel she is inauthentic. I would argue that the uncomfortable feelings she elicits are simply the by-product of watching a woman wanting and taking like a man.

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Singer/songwriter Liz Phair performs her album ”Exile in Guyville” at the 9:30 Club on August 28, 2008 in Washington, DC.

 what is called a sex-positive feminist. Or maybe a radical feminist, or, wait–this one’s cool: an anarcha-feminist! Which is to say that I don’t give a f— about your labels, I just want to hear the true voices of women self-expressing–smart ones, stupid ones, ugly ones, beautiful ones, good ones, bad ones, fat ones, thin ones, all of it–until the profound silence that has resounded throughout history is filled with a healthy chorus coming from our side of the aisle.
Can you picture our society, “one nation under The Goddess, indivisible… etc.?” If the president was always a woman and all the senators, judges and key business leaders were all female? Picture being forced to talk endlessly about your feelings and listen and care when what you needed was just to get something done. Doesn’t that sound sh–ty? Tiresome? Oppressive?
Yeah, I know the feeling .
Lana Del Rey really needs to duke it out with M.I.A. and Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Kim Gordon, The Tin! g Tings and Tegan and Sara. That’s where she’s relevant. It’s our sh–. You wouldn’t understand.
So how does Liz Phair feel about Lana Del Rey? Well, as a recording artist, I’ve been hated, I’ve been ridiculed, and conversely, hailed as the second coming. All that matters in the end is that I’ve been heard.
Liz Phair’s 1993 album “Exile In Guyville” was named one of the top 100 albums of all time by VH1, and one of the 500 greatest albums ever by Rolling Stone.
What do you think of Phair’s take on Lana Del Rey? Leave your thoughts in the comments.