How much money have we spent on bailouts and stimulus packages?
The government has spent, lent, or committed a total of about $12.8 trillion in response to the financial crisis. The portion of that money that has actually been spent has gone to stimulus projects, stimulus checks, and non-loan bailouts. Some portion of the $12.8 trillion will probably never be spent, because a portion is set aside as a guarantee against potential bank losses that will likely not occur. Also, $3.447 trillion is loans, and the Fed and Treasury believe they will get some of that money back with interest. This chart shows the Congressional Budget Office’s projections for how much bailout program money will be returned to taxpayers. However, the cost of the interest the government has to pay on the loans it has taken out, plus the losses on the assets it has purchased from banks, could add up to as much as $23.7 trillion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
