Just last week, new initiatives added $600 billion to lower mortgage
rates, $200 billion to stimulate consumer loans and nearly $300 billion
to steady Citigroup, the banking conglomerate. That pushed the
potential long-term cost of the government's varied economic rescue
initiatives, including direct loans and loan guarantees, to an
estimated total of $8.5 trillion -- half of the entire economic output
of the U.S. this year.