The government made money on the auto bailouts. That actually turned out to be a good investment. Cash for Clunkers was the real bailout: taxpayers paid thousands of dollars to people buying new cars so they’d destroy their old car instead of putting it into the used car market, driving up the prices of all cars and denying lower-income folks the ability to purchase a reasonable car for a reasonable price. Then Covid hit and demand shot through the roof and we all got fucked.