I’m not sure where the numbers are coming from but the final ‘bill’ for ‘fixing’ Wall Street and saving Main Street is likely to approach, more likely even even exceed, $1 Trillion; that’s about the same as the entire GDP of Canada.
The US government may have to clean up $600 Billion to $1,000 Billion – over four or five years, most likely, but in the current and the next FY it will mean that no one, not John McCain, not Barak Obama, not the good gods almighty can hope to balance the US budget (which is $400 Billon in the red before the recent ‘bailouts’ are added). Cutting taxes, part of McCain’s platform, might be impossible – well, nothing is impossible in politics but it might be stupid.
A lot of the ‘distressed assets’ are in Europe and Asia (hundreds of billions in each case) and some, probably tens of billions, is spread around most Canadians banks and insurance companies - the ones PM Harper promises not to help.
One hates to say it, but it shows the ravages of inflation: Back in the late ‘40s C.D. Howe was castigated for asking (rhetorically) “What’s a million?” Now US taxpayers are being asked, “What’s a hundred billion, here and there?”
Edit: typo
