
Quoting
aaron
The government is going to buy junk securities - what many accurately describe as "the big sh*tpile", or more politely as "toxic debt" - considered such a poor investment that they're literally dragging the world's largest financial companies into bankruptcy. This will potentially cost $700 billion dollars.
If any private investors thought there was money to be made here they would be lining up to buy the securities for a penny more than the government is willing to pay. And yes, there are investors out there who would buy these securities, but the bailout will pretend that "market value" is enormously above actual market value - the pennies on the dollar that actual investors would presently pay.
So while we can't rule out the possibility that the government could "turn a profit" somewhere down the road, there does not appear to be a single major investor in the entire world who expects that to occur.