US to make profit from bailouts, Treasury says

The US will make a profit from bailing out the nation's banks and carmakers at the height of the financial crisis, the Treasury Department has said. The bank bailouts may result in a return of $2bn , the Treasury said in its latest projections for the government's response to the crisis.

And the recovering auto industry has added 230,000 jobs as a result.

The recession was the worst since the Great Depression and $19.2tn of wealth was wiped out, it said.

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Think solar power can't compete with big utilities? Think again

 by John Farrell March 26, 2012
Most Americans think clean energy is futuristic — a good idea some day, but not practical now. But a new report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance suggests that within 10 years, 100 million Americans in the nation's largest cities could get cheaper electricity from rooftop solar — without subsidies — than that provided by their utility.


For example, one-quarter of San Diego residents could power their homes with cost-effective solar by next year. Even in Boston, solar could cost-effectively power one-third of homes by 2020.

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