Multi-Trillion Bank Bailout Leads To Multi-Billion Bank Profit Bloomberg Finds

Back in August when Bloomberg first scoured the depraved depths of the almost-30,000 pages of FOIA-released Fed documentation surrounding the biggest ever bailout in history, the sheer volume of the loans, ultra-low cost of funds, and lying-through-their-teeth nature of the bank CEOs was enough for some vindication of tin-foil-hat-wearing fringe blogs [3]. In this month's Bloomberg Markets magazine [4], much of this is rehashed but the truly incredible part - though not entirely shocking to us - is the magnitude of the profits that the banks amassed directly as a result of these 'secret' bailouts. Almost a quarter of their entire income was generated during this period from bailout-related sub-market funds. Over $13bn profit was 'appropriated' during the crisis with Citi and BofA among the largest profiteers.

For those with the stomach for what is the highest form of crony capitalism writ large and explained in its clearest and most egregious manner yet, the article also has an interactive chart of the banks' profit-gains direct from the Fed's bailouts [4] during this period. Dean Baker's quote from the article perhaps sums up our perspective at the time and now:

"banks were either in bad shape or taking advantage of the Fed giving them a good deal. The former contradicts their public statements. The latter - getting loans at below-market rates during a financial crisis -- is quite a gift."

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