For all the Cronenberg-style chest-flesh-yanking the bank bailout generated, gone almost unnoticed is that the damn thing actually made money.

The government earned a profit of $25.2 billion on a $309 billion investment, according to new data crunched by Bloomberg. That comes out to a sweet return of 8.2%, a very nice ROI indeed.

However, “there are other costs as the government made it possible for the banks to pay back TARP,” the chief investment officer at New York-based Offit Capital Advisors LLC, told Bloomberg. “Those costs can turn out to be larger, and their legacy could last longer.”

Wall Street Bailout Returns 8.2% Profit Beating Treasury Bonds [Bloomberg]

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