In November 2008 the NY Times reported that the US Treasury had effectively (and so far) committed a staggering 7.8 Trillion Dollars to assorted bailout schemes, designed to save the US economy and enable the system to continue.

$1.7 Trillion in loans (Companies are borrowing from the government, using hard-to-sell securities as collateral).

$3.0 Trillion in investments (The government has bought stock and corporate debt and will buy mortgages).

$3.1 Trillion in guarantees (The government is guaranteeing corporate bonds, money market funds and money in some deposit accounts) 3.

In addition to the above, the action of nationalising the two main mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac effectively adds another $5.3 Trillion in mortgage liabilities to the US government books.

There is little consensus on the ultimate scale of losses to be absorbed within the Financial system. The IMF originally estimated about $1 trillion in losses and now says that will be too low. Nouriel Roubini has estimated eventual losses of over $2 trillion and others talk of more than $5 trillion. Even a small percentage write down on the 500 to 1,000 trillion derivatives mountain could make these large figures look tiny. The counterparty risk carried within the banking system is far greater than that which can be covered by even the largest governments acting together. US GDP is $14 trillion, and the US is already the greatest debtor nation with a more than $10 trillion government deficit, and its budget deficit in the coming year may balloon to more than $1 trillion, particularly with the stimulus package that the new President Barack Obama is promising. There is also growing disquiet over the lack of transparency in the governments actions. Bloomberg reported on the 10th of November, “The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Despite assurances given to Congress over transparency in the $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later the Fed is lending far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn’t require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where the money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return4".

Dr Ronald Solberg of Armored Wolf Asset Managers highlighted that the US government has effectively become a bank and worst still is offering loans without any security. The Fed’s balance sheet is dramatically growing - in the 8 weeks to Oct 08 the monetary base grew an unprecedented 38% to $1.142 trillion and shows no signs of slowing down 5.

However, reserves injected into the balance sheets of the banks have not been disseminated into the broader economy.

The banks are using the cash to repair and shrink their balance sheets – ie write off their bad debts.

So there are serious questions over how effective the bailout schemes will be and how soon the credit crunch will be over as banks deleverage and write off their losses.

The commitment to do whatever is necessary to save the economy from absolute collapse and the winding up of the major financial institutions of the US is unquestioned. Where this money would come from is less certain. The US government is faced with the choice of: massively curtailing expenditure on social, health and welfare projects, raising taxes dramatically, increasing borrowing from overseas, or literally printing the money. As the first two options of cutting spending and raising taxes is not tenable and cannot raise the necessary trillions needed, the money will come from either foreign loans including the holding of US Treasury bills or via printing money which will effectively devalue the currency and cause a hike in inflation. It is questionable as to whether foreign governments will continue to fund the US particularly as the US consumer will slow down in its purchase of Chinese and Japanese goods. The Chinese government which already holds $1.8 Trillion in US bonds is also unlikely to want to further increase its holdings of a currency which could go into meltdown.

If the US government fails in extracting this money from foreign sources then there is no alternative but for a massive increase in the US money supply which will be inflationary or hyperinflationary. With Governments buying up bank’s bad debts Governments themselves become riskier propositions for investment. Governments are vulnerable to defaults. The risk of this is greater now then at the start of the crisis as Western economies rapidly contract with tax revenues falling and public spending on the rise. Thus a financial crisis precipitates an economic crisis leading to a political crisis.