On April 1, 1996, way before anyone heard of a blog, Beat the Press
began as a weekly commentary called "Reading Between the Lines" on the
Economic Policy Institute's website. I started writing it because I felt
that major media outlets were often obscuring rather than explaining
major economic issues.

The Washington Post is anxious to tell its readers that the government made a profit on its bailout of Citigroup. This claim gives a whole new meaning to the notion of "profit." The government gave enormous amounts of money to Citigroup through various direct and indirect channels. It is only getting a portion of this money back in its "profits," the rest is going to Citigroup's shareholders (e.g. Robert Rubin) and its millionaire executives who are highly skilled at getting the government to hand them money.