It’s time for a new unit, the Cluster-Fudge-$ or CF$.   CF$1 is == the cost of WWII.  So in these units, we’re talking about lending CF$2.05 to rescue the financial system.  This is on top of the CF$0.19 (or CF¢19) that’s being used to recapitalize the banks.  According to the IMF, the 2007 world GDP was CF$18.02.

I encourage everyone (Economist, take note) to adopt the CF$ unit so that we can all better understand just WTF is going down here. 

mikehudack:

“The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.”

—

Bloomberg.com

I officially give up trying to comprehend any numbers ending in ‘-illion.’  That way lies madness.

In 2007 dollars, World War II cost $3.6 trillion.

I’m not saying that Fed lending and FDIC guaranteeing loans and all those things I don’t really understand are the same as straight up spending, but how does one wrap one’s head around such a number?

(via southpol)