Change!

"The Obama administration is making final preparations to sell its stake in the New York [Citi] bank, according to industry and federal sources. At today's prices, the sale would net more than $8 billion, by far the largest profit returned from any firm that accepted bailout funds, and the transaction would be the second-largest stock sale in history."

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032604938.html

Let this sink in for a minute. When the Great Bush Recession hit in full force, economists were warning that a complete collapse of the US economy was quite possible, and extreme action was needed. That extreme action, as described by the Bush Administration, was to pick a sufficiently large number, $700 BILLION, and dole it out to private financial institutions WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED. The compromise was to allow the Bush Administration to give out the first $350B, and the incoming Obama Administration would give out the remaining $350B.

After the change in Administrations, a very important string got attached to the big bank bailout. All of a sudden, banks were expected to repay the $700B, or else executive pay had to be capped. The banks complied, and the bailout funds, originally meant as a giveaway, started getting returned WITH INTEREST.

And now the Obama Administration is poised not only to get back the taxpayers' money from the Citi bailout, but make $8B in PROFIT for the taxpayers.

THAT is outstanding change that we can believe in!