That 300 million isn't inflation-adjusted, is it? Also, most of the $4-trillion-range figures are of guarantees, not actual dollars spent or committed - a good

That 300 million isn't inflation-adjusted, is it? Also, most of the $4-trillion-range figures are of guarantees, not actual dollars spent or committed - a good deal of that money has been or is going to be repaid. If the banks default on literally all of it, we're going to have much bigger problems; certainly, some of that money is truly at risk and is likely to never be repaid - but hardly all of it. Now, that doesn't mean any of it is a great idea - a government guarantee of your debt is certainly a valuable give-away! - but it's not as if "we the taxpayers" wrote a $4 trillion check to Citibank. Distinguishing between a line of credit and a "gift" is pretty important (even though the LOC itself undoubtedly has value). Edit: just to be clear, I actually agree with the broader point that our priorities are pretty screwed up and that there's a whole host of problems with the way these "bailouts" and whatnot have been handled. That said, exaggerating or making "truthy" comparisons just makes the whole thing less credible, which is unfortunate because the broader point is valid. Call it "the Michael Moore effect."