Trillions Spent On Financial Crisis In US as reported by CNBC

The U.S. Government is on the biggest spending spree ever. Equipped with a printing press and an endless supply of currency quality paper, there is no end in sight to what they are, can and will spend. If only the average citizen could do the same the economic crisis would be over.

Of course citizens cannot do this. Those that have attempted it go to jail for counterfeiting and rightfully so. Creating money out of thin air that has no value and no backing such as gold or silver is illegal. It is? Then how can The Treasury Department and The Federal Reserve do it? Who benefits and who really pays for all of this newly created money - the people?

Yes, the people. The citizens of this great country who willingly or not are passing a debt to our children, their children and probably children for generations to come.

Trillions of dollars are being created and given to those responsible for most of the financial meltdown with the understanding that they would use this new found money to pass down to the people.

To date, none of these trillions have made it to Main Street. In fact, Main Street is being made to suffer more while lavish lifestyles are still being enjoyed by the elite upper class.

I have long been a critic of main stream media, those huge mega news corporations that I have long believed have been very influenced in their reporting by the government. Only recently have we seen true reporting of facts revealing some truths that we all must be aware of. CBS has been one of those media corporations as is evidenced by my links to their stories in other posts. Now I have found that CNBC is joining them releasing information that is both alarming and eye opening.

In an article published on line by CNBC, "Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions" today, November 18th they uncover some startling information revealing that this economic crisis - disaster as I prefer to call it - has cost in excess of four trillion dollars. Yes, Four Trillion Dollars, in fact the figure they give is $4,284,500,000,000. Spoken in words it says, four trillion two hundred eighty four billion five hundred million dollars. And there is concern and much debate about giving the auto industry twenty five billion - $25,000,000,000 from the funds already allocated to a "bailout". The amount even sounds small when spoken.

Here is how CNBC, who has been tracking this financial drama and keeping track of the expenditures, lays it out:

"CNBC, however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual spending as well as the commitments involved."

Financial Crisis Balance Sheet

Government Entity Sum in Billions of Dollars
Federal Reserve
(TAF) Term Auction Facility 900
Discount Window Lending
Commercial Banks 99.2
Investment Banks 56.7
Loans to buy ABCP 76.5
AIG 112.5
Bear Stearns 29.5
(TSLF) Term Securities Lending Facility 225
Swap Lines 613
(MMIFF) Money Market Investor Funding Facility 540
Commercial Paper Funding Facility 257
(TARP) Treasury Asset Relief Program 700
Other:
Automakers 25

*TMC Forum Editors Note: Not the money they are asking for now.
(FHA) Federal Housing Administration 300
Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac 350
Total 4284.5
Note: Figures as of Nov. 13, 2008

CNBC points out,

"Strictly speaking, not every cent is a direct result of what's called the
financial crisis, but it is arguably related to it."

It is also important to note the following from the article,

*References includ US National Archive, US Dept of Defense, US Bureau of Reclamation, Library of Congress, NASA, Panama Canal Authority, FDIC, Brittanica, WSJ, Time, CNN.com, and a number of other websites.

(Editor's Note: CNBC's Steve Liesman and Sabrina Korber have been keeping a runny tally of the government's efforts, while Sean Entwistle, Yolaiki Gonzalez, Giovanny Moreano and Ariel Nelson researched and computed the data for the comparisons with other major historical events in the slideshow.)

I urge everyone to click on this link to the CNBC article and read it in its entirety along with the slideshow it refers to.

I sometimes wonder why those we have empowered in government feel they have to hide the truth from us believing we cannot take the pain. In deed, it is more painful to be hit between the eyes with the reality while being told - as we were for months - that the economy is strong and everything is OK.

I want to thank CNBC as I have other main stream and not so main stream media for reporting the truth and truly informing the American people. Perhaps we are getting back to an era of "Government For The People, By The People" and an era where reporting fact and truth was the obligation of our media who was not or could not be influenced - or coerced - by government.