The $700 billion is a balance sheet number. My understanding was that the total amount to be spent had no preset limit in the defeated bill. In the end it's tru

The $700 billion is a balance sheet number. My understanding was that the total amount to be spent had no preset limit in the defeated bill. In the end it's true that nobody knows what it'll cost. It cost Sweden between 0 and 2% (depending on accounting method) of their GDP in 1992 according to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/business/worldbusiness/23krona.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/business/worldbusiness/23k.... The $700 billion figure is about 5% of US GDP.