Abstract:
Crunch some numbers on the bailout
Publication Date:
Sun, 2008-11-30 18:00
Think about it
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According to the bailout bill, two oversight committees will be set up. The first one is a Financial Stability Board, which will include the Federal Reserve chairman; the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman; the Federal Home Finance Agency director; the Housing and Urban Development secretary; and the Treasury secretary. That oversight committee will report to the second oversight committee, which will be a congressional oversight panel. The second committee will have five members appointed by House and Senate leadership from both parties.
76%
According to a poll by CNN.com [1], 76 percent of readers think the bailout plan will ultimately fail. But 24 percent are optimistic and think it will help the economy. What do you think?
$237.2 billion
According to MarketWatch [2], the U.S. federal government deficit soared to $237.2 billion in October after the government invested more than $136 billion in various bailout programs.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association [3] reports that in Mid-November, mortgage applications rose to 11.9%. Slow and steady does it ...
$750 billion
$750 billion is not how much we'll necessarily spend (we hope). If the government needs more than $750 billion, then they will have to pass new legislation. Estimated figures for fixing the financial mess is between $500 billion and $1 trillion. Should we be optimistic and say it will only cost $500 billion to fix?
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It took two tries to pass the bailout bill, with a vote of 263–171 in the House. President Bush signed it immediately into law after it passed.
$85 billion
This is the estimated cost for the government to bail out American International Group (AIG). In addition to that, there's also the $29 billion the government pledged for the joining of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase [4]. And if that wasn't all, it could cost $25 billion to bail out Fannie Mae [5] and Freddie Mac [6]. And that's in addition to the $750 billion bailout plan the government passed.
$250,000
In the revised bailout bill that passed, Congress added a provision: temporarily raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000, which has been in place since 1980.
