"No one suggests that the cost of the bailouts will by $8.5 trillion . . . "
You are incorrect. That $ 8.5 Trillion is official. Check out the headline below.
It was featured on FR and many freepers commented . . .
The total cost of these bogus bailouts will easily exceed $ 10 Trillion. The 50 States are waiting in the wings, begging for more bailouts. That includes the cost of the royal shafting that Americans received thus far.
Bernanke and Paulson lied in testimony before Congress. They ought to be arrested and charged with perjury. Then Bush and Congress conspired to rape taxpayers for excessive costs for the next thirty years!
A Trillion Here, A Trillion There, Pretty Soon We’re Talking About Real Money !
No I’m not. People throw around the $8.5 trillion number because it’s eye-catching, but far less has actually flowed out of the Treasury, most of it never will (since most of that number consists of guarantees of things that aren’t going to fail), and even much of what did flow out—such as the $350 billion in equity investments in banks—will surely bring some return to taxpayers when those stakes are eventually sold or redeemed.