A True Dragnet (Just The Facts): The Current Financial Crisis — $7.4 Trillion
By: Myles, November 23rd, 2008
Less than two weeks ago we posted a mind-boggling article to this Blog that outlined some $4.28 Trillion Dollars that the government was estimated to fork over, to overt a complete financial meltdown.
Incredibly today, Bloomberg News has updated and calculated that new rescue number to be a wopping $7.4 Trillion Dollars!!!
So here is the multi-trillion dollar question: What will our national exposure ultimately be?
As Detective Joe Friday used to say, in the now infamous 1970s hit show Dragnet – Just The Facts. So here is our attempt to provide you with ALL the facts, and to gain some much needed perspective on the current financial crisis.
Given the speed at which the federal government is throwing money at the financial disaster, the average taxpayer (me included), and most likely many members of Congress, can not be faulted for losing track of the total. The activity has been so fast and so furious and mind numbing, it is hard to account for it all.
BUT, HERE IS THE OFFICIAL TALLY:
Try $4.28 trillion dollars …. That’s $4,284,500,000,000.
Before we provide an item-by-item breakdown, ever wonder what the major events and great achievement in American History cost, adjusted to 2008 dollars? And ever wonder how our current crisis compares to these major benchmark events? Wonder no more ….
-
Hoover Dam*: Original Cost: $49 million / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $782 million
-
Panama Canal*: Original Cost: $375 million / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $7.9 billion
-
Gulf War* I Original Cost: $61 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $98 billion
-
Marshall
Plan* : Original Cost: $12.7 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion -
Louisiana Purchase*: Original Cost: $15 million / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
-
Race to the Moon*: Original Cost: $36.4 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
-
Savings & Loan Crisis*: Original Cost: $153 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
-
Korean War*: Original Cost: $54 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
-
The
New Deal*: Original Cost: $32 billion (Est) / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est) -
Gulf War II*: War on Terror / Original Cost: $551 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
-
Vietnam War: Original Cost: $111 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion.
-
NASA* (Cumulative in 50 Years): Original Cost: $416.7 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
-
World War II *: Original Cost: $288 billion / Inflation Adjusted Cost: $3.6 Trillion
Not only is the $4,284.5 Trillion Dollar a astronomical amount of money, and far surpassing ALL of the items above, but it is comprised of a complicated cocktail of:
- Budgeted dollars,
- Actual spending,
- Guarantees,
- Loans,
- Swaps and
- Other market mechanisms by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other offices of government taken during the last year.
Strictly speaking, not every cent is directed a result of what is called the financial crisis, but it arguably related to it.
Here is the breakdown:
- Some 68-percent of the sum falls under the Federal Reserve’s umbrella,
- While another 16 percent is the under the Treasury Asset Relief Program, TARP, as defined under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, signed into law in early October 2008.
Here is the eye-opening, jaw-dropping breakdown. And we are NOT done, yet:
GOVERNMENT ENTITY SUM IN BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
FEDERAL RESERVE
Term Auction Facility (TAF) $900.0
Discount Window Lending
Commercial Banks $ 99.2
Investment Banks $ 56.7
Loans to buy ABCP $ 76.5
Bear Sterns $ 29.5
Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF) $225.0
Swap Lines $613.0
Money Market Investor Funding $540.0
Commercial Paper Funding Facility $257.0
(TARP) Treasury Asset Relief Program $700.0
OTHER:
Automakers $ 25.0
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) $300.0
Fannie Mae / Freddie Mack $350.0
TOTAL $4,284.5
Figures as of
*References include US National Archive,
Tags: Federal Bailout, TARP
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