The Troubled Asset Relief Program should be run like a business with a goal of returning as much of the involuntary investment as possible to its owners--the taxpayers--along with a reasonable overall profit.

Even with its status as a "program," we should insist on appropriate and regular accounting for TARP to ensure financial responsibility.

Only more capital can solve a capital problem.

There are dilemmas when public money is used to offset the losses of banks in the name of economic and social stability.

Four goals for reducing the scope of government involvement in the financial system and for paving the way for reprivatization.

Government assistance programs during the recent financial crisis were conceived in haste, poorly designed, and sometimes transparently politically motivated--and they entailed hundreds of billions of dollars of losses (so far) to taxpayers.

The practice of bailing out banks has encouraged financial structures that keep profits private while losses are borne by the public.

We must improve bailout and antitrust policies to minimize the potential for undesirable outcomes driven by political considerations.