$8 trillion bailout: Where Obama's stimulus plan fits in

Sitting down? It's time to tally up the federal government's bailout tab.

There was $29 billion for Bear Stearns, $345 billion for Citigroup. The Federal Reserve put up $600 billion to guarantee money market deposits and has aggressively driven down interest rates to essentially zero.

The list goes on and on. All told, Congress, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and other agencies have taken dozens of steps to prop up the economy.

Total price tag so far: $7.2 trillion in investment and loans. That puts a lot of taxpayer money at risk. Now comes President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, some details of which were made public on Monday. The tally is getting awfully close to $8 trillion.

via $8 trillion bailout: Where Obama's stimulus plan fits in - Jan. 6, 2009.

There are roughly 138 million taxpayers in the United States. The rest of the population is too young, retired, or illegal.

So, that $8 trillion works out to about $64,000 per taxpayer. This is over and above the $40,000 you already owe to cover the government's (admitted) accumulated dept.

So, courtesy of the US Government, you are on the hook for $100,000 per taxpayer, plus accruing interest.

Keep in mind that the taxes you already pay don't even meet the interest on the old debt, let alone the principle, let alone the NEW debt being handed to you. - wrh