repayment

In the late '80s and early '90, more than 1,000 savings & loans failed in a financial crisis that cost the government $220 billion to resolve. By contrast, it looks like TARP will only cost the government $105 billion. So is the current financial crisis only half as bad? Not bloody likely.

Use two buzzwords in a sentence and you're asking for trouble. But since $12.8 trillion of taxpayer money is at stake, it's a risk I need to take. The Treasury is poised to announce that it will let some banks that got Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money -- JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman...