Assuming the administration’s $700-billion scheme is approved, the total price tag for bailouts this year — including Bear Stearns, AIG and Freddie and Fannie — will be roughly three times greater than all other U.S. bailouts ever. Because $1.015 trillion is a hard figure to wrap one’s head around, ProPublica puts the numbers in perspective.

ProPublica:

Together with the total of $315 billion the government put forward earlier this year to engineer the bailouts of Bear Stearns, AIG and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the administration’s new plan brings the potential price tag of the current subprime crisis up to $1.015 trillion. The total for all U.S. government bailouts predating this year, by comparison, is $347.5 billion.

After the jump is our updated chart — and graphic — showing the history of U.S. government bailouts, calculated in 2008 dollars.

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