Remember that $700 billion TARP program that was signed in 2008 to bail out the bank and save the country from another Great Depression? According to this article on NPR, the Treasury Department estimates that it will end up costing tax payers $50 billion. It also goes on to state that many independent economists believe that even though it forced us to spend billions on the largest banks and financial institutions, the program saved us from "economic collapse".
While both democrats and republicans voted for the program, it seems like everyone and their mother is trying to distance themselves from TARP in this election season. To me, as far as large government programs go, this actually worked pretty well! I'm sure the primary reason politicians are distancing themselves from TARP is that many Americans are still unemployed, and others have had to take a lower paying position among fiercer competition. It's true that the program did not completely fix our economy, but for $50 billion or less, it has had a massive impact on softening the economic blow our country had to take. To me this goes back to why our founding fathers formed our government as a representative democracy, and not a direct democracy. Sometimes the unpopular choice is not one that we want, but it's what we need.
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