The real size of the bailout (image)

[teacherone]

http://motherjones.com/files/images/...of-bailout.jpg

[eric_cartman]

cool

[gonegolfin]

This is nowhere near an accurate assessment of what has been spent. The amount is considerably less. Some of these categories are simply maximum caps, not what has been spent. Other categories are out of date and on the high side.

Brian

http://motherjones.com/files/images/...of-bailout.jpg

[ArchPaul]

but it will be spent. When govt takes money, they never give it back.

[teacherone]

Mon Dec. 21, 2009 12:23 PM PST

The price tag for the Wall Street bailout is often put at $700 billion—the size of the Troubled Assets Relief Program. But TARP is just the best known program in an array of more than 30 overseen by Treasury Department and Federal Reserve that have paid out or put aside money to bail out financial firms and inject money into the markets. To get a sense of the size of the real $14 trillion bailout, see our chart here. Below, a guide to the pieces of the puzzle:

Treasury Department bailout programs

Money Market Mutual Fund: In September 2008, the Treasury announced that it would insure the holdings of publicly offered money market mutual funds. According to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), these guarantees could have potentially cost the federal government more than $3 trillion [PDF].

Public-Private Investment Fund: This joint Treasury-Federal Reserve program bought toxic assets from banks and brokerages—as much as $5 billion of assets per firm. According to SIGTARP, the government's potential exposure from the PPIF is between $500 million and $1 trillion [PDF].

TARP: As part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Treasury has made loans to or investments more than 750 banks and financial institutions. $650 billion has been paid out (not including HAMP; see below). As of December 21, 2009, $117.5 billion of that has been repaid.

Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) stock purchase: The Treasury has bought $200 million in preferred stock from Fannie Mae and another $200 million from Freddie Mac [PDF] to show that they "will remain viable entities critical to the functioning of the housing and mortgage markets."

GSE mortgage-backed securities purchase: Under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Treasury may buy mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to SIGTARP, these purchases could cost as much as $314 billion [PDF].

http://motherjones.com/politics/2009...l-size-bailout

[Zippyjuan]

Let's just look at one line:

Money Market Mutual Fund: In September 2008, the Treasury announced that it would insure the holdings of publicly offered money market mutual funds. According to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), these guarantees could have potentially cost the federal government more than $3 trillion [PDF].

Insuring is a POTENTIAL expense, true but it is not an actual expense unless what you are guaranteing fails. For this to cost $3 trillion every issue covered would have to go bad.

More of the same in the piece:

Public-Private Investment Fund: This joint Treasury-Federal Reserve program bought toxic assets from banks and brokerages—as much as $5 billion of assets per firm. According to SIGTARP, the government's potential exposure from the PPIF is between $500 million and $1 trillion [PDF].

Things could POTENETIALLY cost lots more if things get worse. Or they could cost nothing more. These sorts of things are not ACTUAL expenses of the bailouts/ stimulus/ recovery.

[gonegolfin]

but it will be spent. When govt takes money, they never give it back.

Not true. Government has not taken all of this money yet (not even close). Most of the dollars represented here are simply potential expenditures or caps. In other cases, the programs are being would down (Ex. TAF and other loan facilities).

Brian

[gonegolfin]

Let's just look at one line:

Insuring is a POTENTIAL expense, true but it is not an actual expense unless what you are guaranteing fails. For this to cost $3 trillion every issue covered would have to go bad.

More of the same in the piece:


Things could POTENETIALLY cost lots more if things get worse. Or they could cost nothing more. These sorts of things are not ACTUAL expenses of the bailouts/ stimulus/ recovery.

Precisely. And in the case of the MMIFF, it has expired.

Brian