The U.S. government is starting to see profits from the $750 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), started last year to thwart the financial crisis.

Today we examine a couple of recent stories from Fantasyland – otherwise known as Wall Street. Seven of America’s largest banks repaid their TARP borrowings to the US Treasury yesterday, in the process providing one more occasion for hopeful investors to proclaim the end of the credit crisis.

In the currency market, the dollar prolonged its slide against the euro. Late Monday, the euro was trading at $1.417 vs. $1.4126 on Friday.

Just days after Chrysler LLC said it would be cutting one quarter of its auto dealerships, 1,100 General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) dealerships have reportedly been told not to expect a relationship with the embattled U.S. carmaker after October 2010.

Despite promises of open government, the Obama administration tried to “cover up the very existence of smoking-gun documents” prepared for a meeting in which former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson allegedly coerced major banks to allow the government to take equity stakes, according to conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

The results of the government’s bank stress tests were released yesterday (Thursday), and the U.S. Federal Reserve has directed 10 banks to raise an aggregate $70 billion-plus in capital.

In the currency market, the dollar sank against the euro. Late Wednesday, the euro was trading at $1.3341 vs. $1.3319 on Tuesday.

Why wait for Tim Geithner’s rigged stress test results for banks when the underground can help you separate the winners from the losers? Thanks to research carried out by Money Morning’s Martin Hutchinson, we can pre-empt the Treasury Department and reveal which are the strongest banks are which are most poisonous.

In the currency market, the dollar slipped against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.3141 vs. $1.3039 on Monday.

In the currency market, the dollar backed off against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.3249 vs. $1.3185 on Monday.