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Portal:Financial Crisis
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Too big to fail financial services institutions have crashed the U.S. economy, throwing millions out of work, collapsing retirement funds and college savings accounts, and forcing many hard-working Americans out of their homes. The Financial Crisis Tracker highlights the toll this crisis has taken on average Americans. It gives a monthly tally of housing foreclosures, unemployment rates and the extraordinary cost to taxpayers of bailing out failed financial institutions. It is a more accurate measure of how we are doing as a nation than any Wall Street ticker. Enter your email in the box above right to receive our monthly press releases updating these numbers, and for other e-alerts on the financial crisis.
The Financial Crisis Tracker and related information is part of the Real Economy Project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). The goal of the Real Economy Project is too simplify the complex issues related to the Wall Street meltdown and resultant recession, and give average citizens a role in shaping the solutions. CMD is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes www.SourceWatch.org, www.PRWatch.org, the Weekly Spin, and www.BanksterUSA.org, our campaign site for citizens to weigh-in on strong bank reform proposals.
The collapse of the U.S. housing bubble led directly to the largest industry bailout in U.S. history. While it will be many years yet before we can put a hard number on the amount of taxpayer dollars actually lost in the bailout, the Center for Media and Democracy's latest assessment of dollars disbursed in the bailout graphically illustrates the comparatively extraordinary lengths to which the federal government went to bailout the financial sector.
References for the statistics in the chart:
The S&L Crisis (audited RTC statements adjusted to 2010 dollars)[1]
Track the Recovery Money[2]
The CBO's Estimated Health Reform Cost[3]
Cost of U.S. Wars in the Middle East[4]
Total Wall Street Bailout Cost (see below)
The Financial Crisis Tracker gives a monthly snapshot of housing foreclosures, unemployment rates and the total cost of the Wall Street bailout. The Tracker is presented in the form of a widget that can be downloaded to your webpage.
The Foreclosure number is generated monthly by RealtyTrac, a private data source used by newspapers across America. The RealtyTrac data is released in the second week of the month for the previous month.
The Unemployment number is generated by the U.S. Department of Labor and released on the first Friday of the month for the previous month. The larger DOL data set is rich with information about unemployment and underemployment in the U.S. economy.
The Wall Street Bailout number is our original calculation of the total bailout expenditures to date. Our calculation was peer-reviewed by economists at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C. Our table tallying all government bailout programs can be accessed here.
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<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Financial_Crisis"> <img src="http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/a/aa/Financial_crisis_numbers.png" alt="Financial Crisis Tracker" width="180" height="150" /></a> |
The unique number in our Financial Crisis Tracker is the "Wall Street Bailout" total, which highlights the actual taxpayer dollars that have been disbursed in support of the financial sector. In calculating this number, our focus is on direct and indirect support to financial institutions that had a role in causing the financial crisis. Included in our tally is the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the U.S. Treasury as well as the flow of funds under dozens of different Federal Reserve programs, and supports to federal housing institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that primarily assist banks. Unlike other bailout tallies, we do not include economic stimulus funds, unemployment insurance, student loan aid, the auto bailout, "Cash for Clunkers" or other efforts to create jobs or assist the citizenry.
Learn more about the 35 programs included in our tally by visiting our Total Wall Street Bailout Cost Table which contains links to pages on each program with details about the program funds disbursed and outstanding.
The website for Office of the U.S. Inspector General for the TARP (SIGTARP) information related to the bailout can be accessed here.
The website for U.S. Treasury Department information related to the bailout and financial stability can be accessed here.
The website for U.S. Federal Reserve information related to the bailout and financial stability can be accessed here.
The website for Congressional Oversight Panel information related to TARP bailout programs can be accessed here.
