As the Obama administration details its priorities for its $775 billion stimulus package, it should take at least one cue from the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Officials have thus far dispensed TARP money in ways that make it very likely that private sector recipients of those funds will repay the government over time. As a result, taxpayers will ultimately be responsible for little to none of the TARP expenditures. As the TARP money has been doled out to banks and other financial companies, the government has taken back preferred stock and equity warrants in these companies. The Treasury Department can sell these securities or hold them until they are redeemed by the companies that issued them. So in any company that survives–and most will with the benefit of government support–the government should get all its money back with interest. New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg’s recent estimate that the TARP funds have earned the government a profit of $8 billion in three months only underscores this point. As the new administration looks for ways to revive the economy, it should favor projects that could be sold or leased to the private sector after completion. For example, […]