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What a milestone, when everyone, including Ben Bernanke, thought tax payers would end up losing tens of billions in this bailout:

The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that it had sold its remaining stake in the American International Group, earning about $7.6 billion from the sale.

The government sold the 234.2 million shares at $32.50 each, a small discount from the closing price of $33.36 on Monday. The block of shares represented a 15.9 percent stake in the insurer.

With the latest sale, taxpayers have gained about $22.7 billion from a bailout that many predicted would prompt a staggering loss. In an effort to stabilize the global banking system, the government rescued A.I.G. just days after the failure of Lehman Brothers.

Pretty amazing stuff, especially after the heinous bailout of A.I.G. three years ago, detailed by Neil Barofsky:

In September 2008, multiple U.S. financial institutions had failed or were on the brink of failure as a result of an escalating crisis in the financial markets. By September 2008, bankruptcy loomed for AIG, in part because AIG was unlikely to be able to raise the capital needed to meet additional calls for large collateral payments in the case of an anticipated downgrade in its credit rating by credit rating agencies. On the afternoon of September 15, 2008, the three largest credit rating agencies -- Standard and Poor's Financial Services, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., and Fitch Ratings Ltd. -- downgraded AIG. On September 16, 2008, because of concerns that an AIG bankruptcy could cause systemic risk to the entire financial system and the American retirement system, the Federal Reserve Board, with the support of Treasury, authorized the Federal Reserve Board of New York (FRBNY) to lend up to $85 billion to the firm. Despite this initial Government assistance, AIG's financial difficulties continued, and there were concerns that a further downgrade was forthcoming. Additional downgrades, among other things, could trigger requirements for AIG to make additional collateral payments (referred to as "posting collateral") to AIG's counterparties. The downgrades could thus exacerbate the liquidity drain and the payments to swap counterparties.

The Federal Reserve Board authorized FRBNY to create a special purpose vehicle ("SPV") called Maiden Lane III and to lend it up to $30 billion to buy collateralized debt obligations ("CDOs") underlying the credit default swaps from AIG's counterparties.

It really is unbelievable that this bailout has now netted taxpayers a cool $22 billion.

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