Jim Bianco of Bianco Research crunched the inflation adjusted numbers. The bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined.
• Marshall Plan: $12.7 billion; adjusted for inflation: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: $15m; adjusted for inflation: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: $36.4 billion; adjusted for inflation: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: $153 billion; adjusted for inflation: $256 billion
• Korean War: $54 billion; adjusted for inflation: $454 billion
• The New Deal: $32 billion; adjusted for inflation: $500 billion
• Invasion of Iraq: $551 billion; adjusted for inflation: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: $111 billion; adjusted for inflation: $698 billion
• NASA: $416.7 billion; adjusted for inflation: $851.2 billionTOTAL: $3.92 trillion
What's strikes me most about that list (aside from NASA and the Race to the Moon listed separately... hmm...) is that there's no distinction between success or failure among the items listed. Size matters, but we've got to be more than money. None of the great successes on that list were accomplished by money alone. So, no card yet for the bailout, but we'll see how this goes...
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