Bailout · $700B 2008 — Banks Rescued, Homeowners Abandoned

When the subprime mortgage bubble burst, the US government passed the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on 3 October 2008, injecting capital into 700+ banks plus AIG and the auto industry. The banks were saved: Citigroup alone drew $25B in TARP plus a $306B asset guarantee; the Fed committed hundreds of billions more. TARP was eventually repaid, even at a modest profit. What was not repaired: roughly 6 million households lost their homes to foreclosure, ~$11 trillion in household wealth evaporated, and unemployment peaked above 10%. FDIC chair Sheila Bair warned that ignoring foreclosures would slow recovery; loan-modification efforts reached only a fraction of those who needed them. The asymmetry — institutions rescued, ordinary people left to drown — is the political wound the entry documents.