$3.43 Trillion & Counting

The real cost of the Wall Street bailout.

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$154

8/9/07: Fed and European Central Bank inject $154 billion into financial system.

$38

8/10/07: Fed injects another $38 billion.

$17.25

8/23/07: Fed injects $17.25 billion.

$31.25

9/6/07: Fed adds $31.25 billion in reserves to US money markets.

$29

3/24/08: Fed agrees to lend $29 billion to facilitate Bear Stearns acquisition by JPMorgan Chase.

$200

3/27/08: Fed injects $200 billion of Treasury securities.

$300

7/30/08: $300 billion Federal Housing Administration bailout passed.

$200

9/7/08: Quasi-nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accompanied by a Treasury pledge to back $200 billion of their losses.

$155

9/16/08: Fed agrees to pay $85 billion for 80% stake in aig. Also adds $70 billion in cash to keep credit flowing after Lehman Brothers fails.

$235

9/18/08: Fed injects $180 billion to shore up money markets and $55 billon in overnight lending to US banking system.

$480

9/29/08: Fed announces it will supply $330 billion to other central banks, triples supply of corporate short-term loans to $225 billion.

$700

10/3/08: $700 billion bailout fund passed.

$37.8

10/8/08: Fed authorizes another $37.8 billion for aig.

$540

10/21/08: Fed injects $540 billion into money market funds.

$144

10/27/08: Fed opens emergency commercial paper window, lends $144 billion in three days.

$100

11/6/08: $100 billion added to commercial paper facility.

$27.5

11/10/08: Fed gives aig another $27.5 billion.

total cost:
$3.4 trillion
Annual interest (at 5%): $170 billion


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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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