$7.76 Trillion - Bloomberg Reports on Growing Cost of Bailout

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to
provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers
after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday.
The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced
in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial
system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion
already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response
to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs
the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700
billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending
last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years
before the crisis.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arEE1iClqDrk&refer=home

the US Federal Reserve puts some of their data online.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/categories/123

The BOGNONBR (Board of Governors, Non Borrowed Reserves) numbers are going off a cliff. From 4th Quarter 2007 to today, Total Bank Reserves of US banks dropped from about $40 billion to -$300 billion.

In other words, the reserves that US banks use to meet "reserve requirements" are mostly - borrowed.

I was concerned when the US National Deficit was $5 trillion. It has skipped through $10 Trillion on the way to $15 Trillion so fast that my gut tells me, the US economy is very, very sick. Before the bailouts began earlier in the year, the US National Debt was $9 trillion. So, now, add $7.76 trillion on top of that.

The only way the US can pay interest on the debt is to borrow more money.

& the Bush administration can spare $300 billion for Citigroup, but hems & haws about federal assistance for GM, Ford, & Chrysler (which, between the companies & their suppliers & dealers, employ 2.5+ million people.)

Something very strange is going on. It's almost as if the government wants the auto companies to go bankrupt - yet has no problem bailing out hedge fund managers who make $500 million a year (the average salary of the top 30 earning hedge fund managers in the US in 2007).

Looks like the looting of the US is in full swing, with preference being given to the oil companies, the bankers, and the defense contractors.

and, finally, some good news. This video of Christian the Lion, a lion cub that was purchased at a London Department Store, then released into the wild, made me feel good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U