Goldman Sachs reached agreement with the Treasury to buy back Treasury’s TARP warrants. As the press release makes clear:
In June, Goldman Sachs repaid the U.S. Treasury’s investment of $10 billion, and during the eight months of the investment, the firm paid $318 million in preferred dividends. We are pleased that the payment of the dividends and the redemption of the warrants, which total $1.418 billion, represent an annualized return of 23 percent for US taxpayers.
As Goldman’s PR agency well knew, all sorts of commentators have taken to calling the 23% return a good investment. It is not. It is and was an awful investment, and the reaction to its liquidation is showing how few people in DC who are in charge of taxpayer money have even the most basic understanding of investing.
