Here’s how a government runs a business

(Via Virginia Foxx on Twitter)

This must be the day for old adages. This time, it’s the old investment advice, “Buy low, sell high”. Except if you’re the government and you’re investing the taxpayer’s money, it’s “Buy low, watch it fall.”

According to the Ethisphere TARP Index, when markets closed on Friday, May 1, 2009, the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) investment was down approximately $147.4 billion. Created by the Ethisphere Institute, a non-partisan research think tank, the Ethisphere TARP Index tracks the U.S. Federal Government’s return on its $727.1 billion of investments under the capital purchase portion of TARP and the government’s accompanying loan guarantees provided to Bank of America and Citigroup.

So, my fellow taxpayers, between the management of the Bush and Obama administrations, we’re down slightly over 20% on our investment. Yeah, this is working well.