hundreds of billions my ass

the last widespread implosion in the financial industry, the Savings & Loan Crisis, was also, ironically, caused by deregulation and it's predictable consequences. when it came time to clean it up, the initial estimate of the cost to the taxpayers was $25Billion. a lot of money in 1989. six years later the tab was $125Billion.

thus using the "5X the original estimate" formula, the current "monetary squeeze" will top THREE TRILLION DOLLARS. (eclipsing the economic damage done by Osama Bin Laden, except that it only cost him a few million dollars to execute)