Whose Gonna Bail Out Uncle Sam?

Wow, what a week on Wall Street! If you have investments such as stocks, mutual funds, or 401k's, you have seen your portfolio decline significantly. So far just this week the Dow Jones Industrials is down nearly 1,000 pts. The government has already bailed out several large banks, Fannie and Freddie and now AIG, so you may wonder whats gonna happen next on the market and who is the government gonna bail out next?

Well, the federal government may seem like a financial knight on a white steed riding to the rescue of big companies in trouble. The irony is that Uncle Sam’s got huge huge money problems of his own. The government is far deeper in debt than any of the companies it’s bailing out.

As of this morning, the national debt stands at over $9.634 trillion. That’s trillion - with a "T." And that’s nearly $4 trillion more than it was on the day President Bush took office. This year alone, it’s costing taxpayers more than $230 billion just to pay the interest on the national debt.

And it’s getting bigger every day thanks to the relentless rush of the government spending money it has to borrow. The federal deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30 is expected in the range of $400 billion - close to the all-time high.

In fact, the government doesn’t have the $85 billion needed to bail out AIG. The treasury department announced this morning it would auction new debt to raise funds for the Federal Reserve’s rescue plan for AIG. The Fed didn’t need President Bush’s permission for the bailout, but he supports the action.

The president’s economic advisors had determined that some of these companies were so big - that to allow them to fail would have caused even greater harm and damage to the economy.
The rescue plan means taxpayer funds are being put at risk. However, taxpayers might be harmed even worse if the collapse of a major company caused broader economic damage.

But where does the federal government go when it needs a bailout? Taxpayers need only look in the mirror!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Straight from CBSnews.com]