Here are two comparable situations. One run by the government, one by private companies. Which has the better result?

Government run -

Fannie Mae loss widens, asks taxpayers for $7.8B - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/fannie-mae-loss-widens-asks-taxpayers-7-8b-221752510.html)

Privately run

Treasury: 99% of TARP investments paid back HousingWire (http://www.housingwire.com/2011/03/16/treasury-99-of-tarp-paid-back)

Plus the Execs at Fannie and Freddie are getting bonuses... Occupy THAT!!!

Dumb analysis.
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Dumb analysis.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Moronic reply. Would ford vs gm be a better comparison? Arent you the guy that thought Joe Biden would be the best guy to run the country?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Privately run

Treasury: 99% of TARP investments paid back HousingWire (http://www.housingwire.com/2011/03/16/treasury-99-of-tarp-paid-back)

My understanding is that most banks have technically paid back TARP, but they did so with our own money. Also, they've offloaded a ton of toxic loans that have a high chance of failure onto the government - which I believe count as "payback".

Banks are leveraging new loan programs to receive close to interest-free loans from the Treasury and then using those loans to pay the Treasury back for TARP.

So yeah on the Balance Sheet, banks can say that TARP has been paid back, but that's just because they brought on debts to the government under a different name.

This is from June 2011 but it is the process still being used.
Banks tap fund to repay TARP - Boston.com (http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-20/business/29680556_1_tarp-troubled-asset-relief-program-small-business-lending-fund)

So, I'd be skeptical before giving "private institutions" too much credit. Fannie Mae isn't really doing much different than the private banks - both are insolvent without being handed taxpayer money.