Have I missed something?

Wasn't the bailout at 700 milliards (billions for you Americans) + an extra 100 in pork?

How did it grow to 4600 milliards all of a sudden?

Quote Originally Posted by Lemur
Thoughts? There seems to be an orthodoxy that no matter the cost, we must bail out these financial institutions. I don't see this being contested anywhere, which makes me nervous. Was the failure of Lehman really so deadly? Someone please explain to me why we aren't even thinking about allowing some of these banks to go into bankruptcy.
Well, banking has been a cornerstone of the economy since about 400-500 years ago, so crashing that system seems to be a generally bad idea.