TARP This, TARP You

Via the glorious Instapundit:

The status quo still defending TARP (the bank bailouts) has no clue how much damage it did, and still does, to their reputation, and our politics.

It was the anvil that broke the camels back

— Chris Arnade (@Chris_arnade) April 29, 2019

That thread goes on to express the outrage many felt that the banks got their bailout but the people with the crap subprime mortgages got foreclosed. 

That outrage is just and proper.

When the mortgage crisis began we weren't very sympathetic to the these people. We make our mortgage payments on time and in the full amount. And when the bank offered us a million bucks we were smart enough to say no.

When the banks got their bailout we wondered why they weren't forced to refinance with people selling new mortgages at say a thousand. Of course we didn't think up the idea of interest only adjustable rate mortgages to people with bad credit, so what do we know? 

TARP worked, by the way, and was 100% paid back by the banks.