The banks and investment firms certainly made a killing, thanks to tax dollars. Does this mean that you're all in favor of losses being subsidized by taxpayers as long as Wall Street speculators are at the receiving end?
A lot of people have a strange thought process when it comes to these things. If some left-wing politician suggested that taxpayers bail out failing garages or grocery stores across the country, most Republicans would (rightly) condemn that as socialist micro-management of the economy by the state. Apply the same essential policy to Wall Street and suddenly it becomes sound "conservatism".
The taxpayers didn't spend a dime to cover bank losses. The TARP bailout was repaid, the US Treasury made a profit.