Comparing the Cost of the Bailout

All of the costs are expressed in 2008 inflation adjusted dollars...

Hoover Dam: $782 million

Panama Canal: $7.9 billion

Gulf War I: $98 billion

Marshall Plan (the strategy for rebuilding Western Europe after WWII): $115.3 billion

The Louisiana Purchase (the purchase of 829,000 square miles of land from France): $217 billion

Korean War: $454 billion

The New Deal: $500 billion

Gulf War II/War on Terror: $597 billion

Vietnam War: $698 billion

Wall Street Bailout: $700 billion (initial)

NASA (Cumulative 50 years of Spending): $851 billion

WWII: $3.6 trillion