You know that I don't want to talk about four-letter words like TARP, but I'll bite. Taxpayers are making a profit on TARP, and currently none of the banks that accepted (or were forced to take) TARP are in danger of reneging so taxpayers should come out ahead in the end. Of course, we can argue whether they couldn't have done better investing elsewhere, but that's a debate that really can't be proven.

TARP was also supposed to shore up confidence in the financial system, and had it failed, we would probably have many more unemployed and the National Guard policing our streets, and there TARP served its purpose. It stopped the runs on the banks, but not before Washington Mutual and Wachovia were crippled. The liquidity crisis was never solely about bad lending decisions, but we've been over this before, you never seem to believe me, and there's no point in rehashing. I imagine this will be the stuff of history books long after the crisis has passed.

Overdrafts? Again the charges are entirely voluntary, and I think it's a good idea to discourage check kiting, which is also illegal BTW. We'll have to agree to disagree here because I will never agree that that is a consumer action that should be encouraged.

And interest rates in the 20s? That's what BofA and Chase want to charge me on my cards, which is why I use them just enough to keep the accounts open and I always pay them off before they can charge me the interest. My larger purchases go on my other cards instead. I reward the banks that treat me like a valued customer and penalize the ones that only give lip service to the idea, and I urge everyone to do the same. It's worth noting, though, that based on current card default rates, the credit card companies should be charging everyone about 15% interest just to break even. It might also be worth remembering that we are in the mess we are in because credit was too cheap before.