The Price of Crisis Relief

Calculations based on data from the IMF show that per capita spending to resolve the current economic crisis has hit $10,000 per person in the U.S., and an even more staggering near-$50,000 per person in the U.K.

The BBC:

The world’s largest economies have spent $10,000 for every person in a bid to fix the financial meltdown of the past year.

New calculations by the BBC, based on IMF data given to G20 finance ministers, shows these countries have spent a total of $10 trillion (£6tn).

The UK and US spent the most, with the UK spending far more, 94% of its GDP compared to 25% in the US.

That equates to £30,000 per person in the UK and $10,000 in the US.

Of course, most of this bail-out money was in the form of guarantees to the banking system, and as that system pulls out of the crisis, governments stand to recover most but not all of that money.

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