The 8 Trillion Bailout!

[Dantheman62]

Many details of Obama's rescue plan remain uncertain. But it's likely to cost at least $700 billion -- and that would push Uncle Sam's bailouts near $8 trillion.

Sitting down? It's time to tally up the federal government's bailout tab.

There was $29 billion for Bear Stearns, $345 billion for Citigroup. The Federal Reserve put up $600 billion to guarantee money market deposits and has aggressively driven down interest rates to essentially zero.

The list goes on and on. All told, Congress, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and other agencies have taken dozens of steps to prop up the economy.

Total price tag so far: $7.2 trillion in investment and loans. That puts a lot of taxpayer money at risk. Now comes President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, some details of which were made public on Monday. The tally is getting awfully close to $8 trillion.

Obama's plan would combine tax cuts with infrastructure job creation efforts. Economists say it could serve as an integral piece to the government's remaining economic recovery puzzle.

"This plan will be the first direct tool to make additions to disposable income," said Lyle Gramley, an economist with Stanford Group and former Fed governor. "None of the other efforts have done that directly."

Gramley said that a stimulus program from the government is a necessary complement to the Fed's traditional rate-cutting tool. Together with existing actions, stimulus can provide a wider reach to the government's economic intervention.

"Monetary stimulus alone is not enough - it must be combined with fiscal stimulus if you want more bang for your buck," he noted.

For the rest of the article... http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...illion-Bailout

[peaceandlove]

$8.5 trillion stolen?

Source: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=5206

Follow the $8.5 trillion: Breakdown of the government's rescue funds
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