troubled asset relief program

Thanks to TARP loans that saved GM, the Treasury ended up with a major stake in the world's largest automaker, and it still holds 500 million shares -- 32% of the company. Here's the reason it won't be selling them any time soon.

UAW delegates will gather next week in Detroit, as the union works out a strategy to negotiate with domestic automakers for a new four-year contract. The current pact expires in September, and with auto sales rebounding the UAW is eager to win back some concessions.

Given the level of public outrage over the government's rescue of banks during the financial crisis, the final cost to the taxpayer of keeping those failed institutions afloat turns out to have been relatively modest: The FDIC has paid out a mere $8.89 billion to 165 banks since the crisis began.

Republicans in the House of Representatives voted Thursday to eliminate the Obama administration's "car czar," as well as the "pay czar" who oversees compensation at companies bailed out with TARP money, and seven other presidential advisers.

Less than two years after they exited bankruptcy, Chrysler Group and General Motors will soon distribute bonuses to salaried employees in recognition of their efforts to help revive the once-flagging Detroit automakers. The payout is likely to anger the companies' unionized workers.

Union employees at Chrysler Group will receive a $750 bonus next week as an acknowledgment of their contributions in helping to revive the once-bankrupt company, the automaker said Monday. Salaried workers, excluding the company's top 50 executives, will also receive the payment.

The number of government-aided U.S. banks in danger of failing has grown about 15% in the past six months, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The economy has continued to batter many struggling institutions, with 98 bailed-out banks -- up from 86 in the second quarter -- now at risk.

General Motors has repurchased $2.1 billion in preferred stock from the federal government, further reducing the amount the automaker owes taxpayers following last year's bailout. The latest transaction cuts the government's stake in the rebounding carmaker to 33% from 61.5%.

Bank of America has told U.S. regulators that it has met the final condition that was set on its plan to exit the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. BofA, which repaid $45 billion in TARP funds in December 2009, needed to raise $3 billion in capital by the end of 2010.

The central bank says the disclosures cover more than 21,000 individual transactions done to "restore the flow of credit to American families and businesses, and support economic recovery and job creation in the aftermath of the crisis." It also says no money has been lost so far.