Bailout Cost Exceeds All American Wars

Amazing that in such a short period of time we were able to commit more money than it cost to fight every war in US history, good grief.-Lou

Bailout Cost Exceeds All American Wars

By Bethany Stotts
From CNS.com:

“The total value of the bailouts undertaken by the federal government in 2008 now exceeds the combined cost of every major war the United States has ever engaged in, according to a comparison of war costs calculated by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the value of the bailouts as calculated by Bloomberg News or Bianco Research.

According to CRS, all major U.S. wars (including such events as the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, but not the invasion of Panama or the Kosovo War), cost a total of $7.2 trillion in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars.

According to Bloomberg, the federal government has made commitments worth a total of $8.5 trillion in the bailouts of 2008. That includes actual expenditures as well as loan and asset guarantees.

This doesn’t necessarily count the $1 trillion “stimulus” bill that will come up in January or the additional $1 trillion that the Federal Reserve says it is likely to guarantee in the near future.

By February, the Fed is also going to begin buying credit card debt and student loans. This template could be expanded.

Under this plan, the Treasury is assuming the risk of loss while the Fed is making the purchases.” Actually, the taxpayer is assuming the risk of loss while the Fed continues to make purchases.

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http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2009-01-06_BailoutCostsNowExceedThatofAmericanWars.html