15B profit on 420B investment amounts 3.5% return YoY. I wouldn't brag about that sort of return. Yes TARP worked to forestall an even greater collapse. People were less upset that the government acted as an emergency creditor than by the fact that the people who made the mess of 2008 got bonuses paid out of that federal backup (a bonus is given for good performance - which was obviously not happening in 2008).