Actually, the government did very well considering that the loans (especially the AIG loan) were short term and fully repaid. The government made $5.6 billion on $67.8 billion loaned, the Federal Reserve made a profit of $17.7 billion.
The Louisiana and Alaska purchases didn't turn a profit for years, and took a substantial amount of additional capital. AIG is back to relative stability and pays taxes.
http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/entities/8-aig
The Louisiana and Alaska purchases didn't turn a profit for years, and took a substantial amount of additional capital. AIG is back to relative stability and pays taxes.