Tuesday, June 23, 2009

What did it take to stabilize the US financial system?


The number is difficult to fathom. If you add up all the "temporary loans, liability and asset guarantees, and other government programs supporting financial institutions" put together during this financial crisis, what would you think the number will add up to?

Over 13 trillion dollars. That's what it took to stabilize the financial system (assuming it has been stabilized). That is roughly one full year of the US GDP. Granted much of this is guarantees and future commitments. Only a fraction was actually funded with taxpayers money. But the sheer size of these programs is mind boggling.

From FDIC (keep in mind the figures in this table are in billions):