Crisis Programs May Earn Long-Term Profit, U.S. Treasury Says

The U.S. Treasury Department, defending the Obama administration’s efforts to fight the financial crisis, said programs intended to right the economy and bail out companies such as General Motors Co. may earn a profit for taxpayers in the long term.

That assessment includes bailouts of banks and automakers under the Troubled Asset Relief Program as well as Federal Reserve crisis measures, such as large-scale asset purchases, according to Treasury officials who briefed reporters in Washington yesterday on condition of anonymity. It excludes the $825 billion stimulus package passed in 2009.