. . . $7.76 trillion . . .

That is what Bloomberg reports has been committed on behalf of the American taxpayer to bailout America’s finance system. This includes spending by the Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC.

The amount is equal to half the value of everything produced in the United States last year.

It is $24,000 for every man, woman and child in America.

It's nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is enough money to pay off more than half the country's mortgages.

We do not even know where all of those funds have gone. The taxpayer is putting up a King's ransom and not being told who is receiving it. We guarantee the debts of banks and are not being told what collateral is provided or who is receiving the funds. Fed Chairman Bernanke says that such transparency would be "counterproductive." Before receiving the bailout funds, Treasury Secretary Paulsen promised transparency.

All of this money and foreclosures, bankruptcy and unemployment are all up. The stock market and housing prices are down. Pouring tax dollars into banks is not working.

We don't know where the bottom is yet, see no evidence that the bailout is working and already one writer points out the bailout costs more than Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, moonshot, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq war, Vietnam war, and NASA's lifetime budget *combined*! In fact, the bailout is almost double:

Marshall Plan: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
Louisiana Purchase: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
Race to the Moon: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
S&L Crisis: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
Korean War: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
The New Deal: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion
Invasion of Iraq: $551 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
Vietnam War: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
NASA: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

$7.76 trillion. Is this a wise use of tax dollars? Are there better ways to use this money? Will this trickle down approach work this time, even though it has failed in the past?

It is time to break the bailout and put in place an approach that builds a new engine for economic growth from the bottom up. Liberty Tree has the joined the new campaign at BreakTheBailout.com and pledged to help Break the Bailout. On December 7, we take the first step toward taking back our economy and transforming it into an economy that puts the people’s interests first.

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We received this article from Liberty Tree.