Bailouts, Treasury | featured news

The U.S. government's short stint in the auto business is coming to an end. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it will sell its remaining stake in General Motors by early 2014, writing the final chapter of a $50 billion bailout that saved the auto giant but stoked a heated national debate about the government's role in private industry.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage-finance giants, this week reported some of their best quarterly results since the real estate collapse. On Wednesday, Fannie Mae posted second-quarter net income of $5.1 billion. That is up from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year and an improvement from a net loss of $2.9 billion in the second quarter of last year. Fannie requested no additional money from the Treasury and said it would pay a $2.9 billion dividend to taxpayers.

The Treasury department said on Tuesday that automaker Chrysler Group LLC has repaid $5.1 billion in bailout loans and ended its ability to draw a remaining $2.1 billion.

Treasury updated its projections for the cost of the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, saying that for the first time the amount of funds that has been returned to taxpayers exceeds $250 billion.

How long it takes for the government to divest its holdings in General Motors will, in part, be determined by the company’s success, G.M.’s chief executive said.

The Treasury Department said Monday that it plans to sell up to 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup stock, its latest move to unwind the support it provided big banks during the financial crisis....

The Treasury Department said Monday it will begin selling the stake it owns in Citigroup Inc., which could result in a profit to the government of about $7.5 billion. Government received 7.7B shares in exchange for $25B it gave the banking firm during credit crisis.

The department persuaded some big banks to pay more than market estimates to repurchase warrants issued to the government during the financial crisis, suggesting taxpayers could benefit from costly financial-rescue programs.

Central bank will return the money to the Treasury; bank's unconventional efforts to prop up the economy created windfall for the government.