1% of GDP would be about 140 billion dollars. But bailing out Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve printing 2 trillion dollars to buy up bad mortgage debt and Treasury bonds, trillions in other guarantees of support for future bankruptcies, possible support for FDIC, etc -- the total is anywhere from 4-10 trillion, depending on what eventually comes to pass, and how many guarantees need to be met. That's not even counting the $900 billion stimulus package.
Yves Smith writes: "I’m so offended by the latest Obama canard, that the financial crisis of 2007-2008 cost less than 1% of GDP, that I barely know where to begin. Not only does this Administration lie on a routine basis, it doesn’t even bother to tell credible lies. .And this one came directly from the top, not via minions. It’s not that this misrepresentation is earth-shaking, but that it epitomizes why the Obama Administration is well on its way to being an abject failure."
You can hear Obama's own words on the Jon Stewart show -- it's the third video segment on this Huffington Post page, starting after the one minute mark. And the audience is applauding. They either are so stupid they don't know he's lying by a factor of maybe 25 or 50, or they are applauding the BLATANT LIE.
I suppose nothing should shock me by now, but honestly, I'm amazed. I'm sure he knowingly does this because the lamestream media will not call him on it, and he knows it. (I see the Economist discussed this concept in January and offered that a cost of 1% of GDP "may be too optimistic." LOL. What kind of accounting are they using???)
Where do we go from here? What lie is too audacious to float next? Nothing, apparently.
