The money was 'paid back' by banks who got zero-interest loans from the Fed discount window. This way, they get to say "Hey, we paid back TARP", the Obama admin

The money was 'paid back' by banks who got zero-interest loans from the Fed discount window. This way, they get to say "Hey, we paid back TARP", the Obama administration gets to say "The bailout wasn't a boondoggle", and the banks also borrow money from the government for free (from the discount window) and then loan it back to the government at 2% (by buying 10-year T-Bills.) Wholesale rate arbitrage for doing nothing. Must be nice to be "too big to fail".