See here. Basically, people are calculating TARP returns by only looking at investments with positive returns. This is like determining how well my stock portfolio is doing by looking only at my favorable investments and ignoring all others. If a hedge fund calculated its returns this way, we could call it fraud. We should hold all government agencies and officials to the same standard. Not that I am accusing anyone of fraud, as I do not know exactly who is making what claims and the exact nature of these claims.
Regardless, for a more accurate picture, the Ethisphere reports that as of June 19, 2009, TARP investments were worth $510.7 billion, which equates to a $1233 loss per household in America.
Since June 19th, the market has rallied quite a bit, the banks in particular. But Ethisphere has yet to update their “weekly non-partisan” TARP index… oops.