The U.S. government's often maligned $14 trillion intervention not only staved off global collapse - but is making money. The bailout of the financial system is roughly as popular as Wall Street bonuses, the federal budget deficit, or LeBron James in a Cleveland sports bar. You hear over and over that the bailout was a disaster, it cost taxpayers a fortune, we didn't really need it, it didn't work, it was a failure. It has become politically toxic, which inhibits reasoned public discussion about it. But you know what? The bailout, by the numbers, clearly did work. Not only did it forestall a worldwide financial ... (full story)