0 votes  Bailout Price Tag: $3.5T So Far, But 'Real' Cost May Be
Much Higher   Posted Nov 12, 2008 10:16am EST by Aaron Task in
Newsmakers, Recession, Banking Related: AIG, FNM, FRE, XLF,
^DJI, ^GSPC, C While the government is clearly spending a lot of
taxpayers' money to bail out financial firms, the tally is even
bigger than most Americans (economists and pundits included) are
probably aware or willing to admit.  The bailout bonanza has
gotten so big and happened so fast it's the true cost often gets
lost in the discussion. Maybe Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke
prefer it that way because the tally so far is nearly $3.5
trillion, and that's before a likely handout for the auto
industry.  Yes, $3.45 trillion has already been spent, as
Bailoutsleuth.com details:  $2T Emergency Fed Loans (the ones
the Fed won't discuss, as detailed here) $700B TARP (designed to
buy bad debt, the fund is rapidly transforming as we'll discuss
in an upcoming segment) $300B Hope Now (the government's year-
old attempt at mortgage work