TARP Prognosis

The first of several assessments of the TARP program by the Congressional Oversight Panel has been released . The take away number is available without even clicking on the report link:

The total value of all direct spending, loans and guarantees provided to date in conjunction with the financial stability efforts (including those of the FDIC as well as the Treasury and the Federal Reserve) now exceeds $4 trillion. 

You want fries with that?   That represents about 28% of current GDP. We are throwing a monumental amount of resources at the financial crisis. Keep in mind that 4 large doesn't even include the dollars allocated to ARRA spending ($787 billion) which would bring the total effort to a third of GDP. 

One can only hope that Bernanke's green shoots are the real thing.