U.S.: People don’t like it when you prevent a second depression
- TARP is probably the most effective large-scale government program that the public has vehemently decided was a bad idea.
- Douglas Elliot of the Brookings Institute • Lamenting the public and political hatred for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (58% say it was unneeded). Economists estimate that without the bailout, GDP would have fallen 11% in the last two years, resulting in “a 1930’s-like depression.” source