>WSJ is reporting $30 billion alltogether
>
>That's *profit* over and above the returned capital and unrealized gains in shares.
>
>Quoting from that WSJ article:
>
>Still, profits earned in recent months on the government's intervention in the financial system suggest that the worst fears of massive losses from the rescues might not materialize.
>
>"It is not a bad return for all of the extra added benefits [of stabilizing the financial system]," said John-Patrick O'Sullivan, a senior banking analyst at SNL Financial, a research firm specializing in banks.

Some of the biggest bailout recipients have not paid their loans back yet and might still go under. I am not playing the role of Chicken Little, but we don't know yet whether TARP will show a profit when all is said and done.

Still, this may correct the misimpression of some that the bailout money was dropped in the middle of the ocean somewhere. It wasn't just a giveaway with nothing coming back.