Hi cat,
To say that the rescue of the banks was distasteful is an understatement. But it was also necessary to avoid the likelihood of global financial collapse.
You are still cherry-picking where the choices are between bad and worse.
But let's not confuse daily and short term loans - which were the subject of the document you linked - and the TARP program which the banks apparently used for purposes such as stock market trading. These are two different things.
As far as TARP goes, of the $245bn invested in US banks and insurance companies (such as AIG), the US government is actually projected to make a small profit of $7bn or so. Not a great return on its face, but as it saved the global economy from disaster, not a bad day at the office. But perhaps you would rather the banks had either lost the TARP funds or the global economy had imploded? - It's not clear which choice you prefer.
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