This headline is totally misleading. As the article mentions, when you factor in the money given to AIG (a huge proportion of which went straight to Citibank) the US Government is still down.

Here's a counter: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/was_the_citi_bailout_really_a.p...

Article Summary:

The government bailed out Citigroup to the tune of $45 billion in 2008. $20 billion of that has been paid back by Citigroup to the Treasury and the remaining $25 billion was converted to common stock. The stock is now worth $33 billion netting the government an expected $8 billion.

http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/30/citibank-pays-off-its-bailou...

The US government's Citibank investment is paying off because a bit of that huge stream of government cash/debt flowing into the economy has sloshed into Citi's bowl. The total overall net for the US government and us taxpayers will still be hugely negative. The first government divestments will be net gains. The realization of pain comes later.

I'm cranky right now. My opinion tomorrow might be different.

Ah,

It doesn't really matter what the government makes or doesn't make with these transactions.

By guaranteeing these companies, saying the companies are too big to fail, they've granted them a junior right to print money. If an investor knows the government is going to buy Citibank bonds in a pinch, the investor can buy without caring at all whether Citibank is making a profit.

So the bad effects won't come in terms profit or loss on these transactions but rather through these guarantees' effect on the currency and the economy as a whole.

$8 billion pays for about two months of war in Afghanistan.