TARP profit claim bugs skeptics The Treasury Department's bank investments are paying dividends
• CNNThe markets are on a roll, but it's still a tad early for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to be counting his bailout winnings. Geithner said this past weekend that taxpayers have made a small profit on their investments in banks via the Troubled Asset Relief Program. "We've already earned about $6 billion for the taxpayer on those investments," Geithner said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." Pollock said it's impossible to assess the profitability of TARP without a robust and systematic accounting of the program's costs, including interest expense and overhead. Others have reached similar conclusions. Gary Engel, director of financial management and assurance at the Government Accountability Office, was asked at a hearing last month whether he views the stream of dividends into Treasury as a profit for taxpayers. "Not at this point," he said
