Number Crunch: Special Bailout Edition

Think about it

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According to the bailout bill, two oversight committees will be set up. The first one is a Financial Stability Board, which will include the Federal Reserve chairman; the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman; the Federal Home Finance Agency director; the Housing and Urban Development secretary; and the Treasury secretary. That oversight committee will report to the second oversight committee, which will be a congressional oversight panel. The second committee will have five members appointed by House and Senate leadership from both parties.

According to a poll by CNN.com, 76 percent of readers think the bailout plan will ultimately fail. But 24 percent are optimistic and think it will help the economy. What do you think?

According to MarketWatch, the U.S. federal government deficit soared to $237.2 billion in October after the government invested more than $136 billion in various bailout programs.

11.9%

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that in Mid-November, mortgage applications rose to 11.9%. Slow and steady does it ...

$750 billion is not how much we'll necessarily spend (we hope). If the government needs more than $750 billion, then they will have to pass new legislation. Estimated figures for fixing the financial mess is between $500 billion and $1 trillion. Should we be optimistic and say it will only cost $500 billion to fix?

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It took two tries to pass the bailout bill, with a vote of 263–171 in the House. President Bush signed it immediately into law after it passed.

This is the estimated cost for the government to bail out American International Group (AIG). In addition to that, there's also the $29 billion the government pledged for the joining of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase. And if that wasn't all, it could cost $25 billion to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And that's in addition to the $750 billion bailout plan the government passed.

In the revised bailout bill that passed, Congress added a provision: temporarily raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000, which has been in place since 1980.