Bailout may be costliest U.S. program

WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- The bank bailout program, in a worst-case scenario, may cost more than the U.S. government ever spent on a single effort, an inspector general said Monday.

The series of bailouts, bank rescues and other business lifelines could cost as much as $23 trillion, nearly double the country's economic output for a year, which is $14 trillion -- but Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the bailout programs told Politico.com that is an unlikely outcome.

"The $23.7 trillion estimate generally includes programs at the hypothetical maximum size envisioned when they were established," Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Williams said. "It was never likely that all these programs would be 'maxed out' at the same time."

The $23 trillion figure is greater than the cost of all of the wars the United States ever fought and higher than the cost of both the New Deal and the moon landings, the report said.

Less than $2 trillion has been spent so far in the bailout, the Treasury Department said.

The size of the projection calls attention to the enormity of the economic disaster over the past year, the inspector general said.