Even as voters rage and candidates put up ads against government bailouts, the reviled mother of them all -- the $700 billion lifeline to banks, insurance and auto companies -- will expire after Sunday at a fraction of that cost, and could conceivably earn taxpayers a profit.

A final accounting of the government's full range of interventions in the economy, including the bailouts of the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is years off and will most likely remain controversial and potentially costly.

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