"Charles Morris, an astute commentator on finances and banking, notes in the Washington Independent -- fast becoming the leading serious politics and news Web destination -- that the Federal Reserve has quietly loaned an extra $650 billion to banks and other financial institutions, essentially doubling the announced price of the "$700 billion" financial bailout. It is possible the Fed's quiet loans will be repaid, and if so, taxpayers won't be harmed. But if the loans are not repaid, taxpayers could be stung for about $1.4 trillion to bail out the lifestyles of bankers and Wall Street dilettantes -- see below. That's more than double the defense budget, and a truly obscene giveaway of wealth and power by George W. Bush, who just a year ago vetoed a Medicaid increase on the grounds that there is not one spare dime available to improve health care for the poor."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/081021&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1