So far, cash commitments made by various bailout efforts including the Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout and various lending programs by the Federal Reserve are just shy of $3 trillion, Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for TARP, told the Senate Finance Committee March 31.
But the net cost to taxpayers will be much lower more like $356 billion in direct spending according to an analysis published last month by the Congressional Budget Office.
An analysis by msnbc.com concludes that Congress, the Fed and government agencies have announced plans to spend $7.2 trillion to fight the economic downturn, with the vast majority of that coming in the form of loans and loan guarantees. Story @ Msnbc.com
