The amount of US taxpayer money committed to bailouts over the
last 12 months by far exceeds the combined cost of major historical
events dating back over 200 years.
The combined amount spent, lent, consumed, borrowed,
printed, guaranteed, assumed or otherwise committed to bailouts
by the government from March 2008 to March 2009 amounts to some
$15 TRILLION.
To emphasize how much money that is, the producers
of the book Bailout
Nation, put together the following graphic,
which illustrates how almost every large one time expenditure
of the US over the last 206 years is a drop in the ocean compared
with the current level of spending.
The cost of World War Two, the race to the moon,
the New Deal, and the Iraq, Vietnam and Korean wars combined
does not come close to the amount spent so far in just
12 months on the bailout of a handful of privately owned offshore
corporations.
Click for enlargement:
(Article continues below)
The graphic is based on the following inflation
adjusted figures, put together by Bianco Research
President James Bianco:
That amounts to $11 TRILLION+ less than the cost of the financial
crisis so far.
The only event in US history that gets anyway near the current
level of spending is World War Two, which originally cost $288
billion, $3.6 trillion according to Bianco's inflation adjustment
figures.
That means that the most expansive and encompassing military
venture in human history still cost the US taxpayer over four
times less, during a six year period, than the "rescue"
of a select number of banks and financial institutions did in
just one year.
If you still cannot imagine how much money we are talking about,
watch the following clip which shows you what just $1 TRILLION
looks like:
The amount of US taxpayer money committed to bailouts over the
last 12 months by far exceeds the combined cost of major historical
events dating back over 200 years.
