The US Treasury’s decision to release 10 of its wards from the straitjacket of the troubled asset relief programme was presented – and widely taken – as good news. But in fact, it sacrificed sound financial policy for political need.

Letting JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and others repay $68bn to the US taxpayer helps placate the combustible public fury at bank bail-outs that almost escaped Barack Obama’s control this winter. The president even makes a point of noting that the government made a profit on the returned funds. The 10 financial groups’ escape from Tarp’s heavy-handed restrictions also weakens accusations of socialism by some Republicans, to which Mr Obama’s administration has been surprisingly thin-skinned.