How Big is the Housing Bailout?

Digesting the Housing Bailout

Apparently, no one knows at the moment.

I haven't had time to digest the details of the just-announced housing bailout. But what I find interesting, from briefly scanning news accounts, is the discrepant price tags attached to it: I've seen the total cost pegged at anywhere from $75 billion to more than 10X that.

No doubt, that's partly because no one knows how much government guaranties, matching commitments, etc. are ultimately going to cost.

But I think it's also a case of: 1) initial vagueness in the details (which you'd certainly expect, given the dollars involved); and 2) no one really having had a chance to absorb what details were offered.

More to come . . .