Reply #161: The government didn't buy any banks "in their entirety with the promise that..

[girl gone mad]

any dividends, profits, or capital gains will be transferred to the general fund"

Sorry, but that didn't happen.

Of course it's different when the government takes a small equity position in a bank in exchange for tens of billions in bailout funds, as opposed to taking full ownership (under a socialist system, it would be in exchange for nothing). That you would argue otherwise speaks to extreme financial naivete. I have Apple common stock in my IRA. I don't think of myself as "absolutely no different" than Steve Jobs.

Our equity purchases were specifically designed to avoid hurting existing shareholders or deterring new shareholders. Socialists wouldn't concern themselves with the interests of private owners.

As Simon Johnson of the IMF said, the actions fell short of nationalization and represent only "strong government support for the private financial system." He said it's why the markets went up: "If you're really nationalizing, markets go down," because the private sector doesn't get market price compensation when nationalization takes place.

And if by 'working', you mean temporarily propping up useless zombie banks, then yes, by all means, the bailouts succeeded. But the banks are still insolvent. Though it has been shifted to the public balance sheet, most of the debt remains.