U.S. Chamber Welcomes News that American Taxpayers Are Reaping Profit from Investment in Banks

Says TARP is Paying Off

WASHINGTON, DC—Nearly eleven months following the passage of a bipartisan financial rescue bill, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the Chamber today responded to a report by The New York Times showing that American taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid.

"We are glad to see that Congress's critical step to rescue the financial system not only worked to stabilize our markets and pull us back from the brink, but did so at a reasonable cost to American taxpayers," said Dr. Martin Regalia, Chamber senior vice president and chief economist.

According to the Times, the U.S. government has earned about $1.4 billion on its investment in Goldman Sachs, $1.3 billion in Morgan Stanley and $414 million in American Express. It also earned over $100 million in profits from five other large banks that have repaid their debt including Northern Trust, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, U.S. Bancorp and BB&T. There are also over a dozen smaller banks that repaid the government adding another $35 million in profit.

"While we still need to work through some other longer-term financial issues, this is good news and opens up the door for the government getting out of the banking business sooner rather than later," said Regalia.

USA Today named Dr. Regalia one of the top 10 economists in the nation. He and the other economic experts received this recognition for the accuracy of their 2008 economic forecasts.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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