It was, of course, the late U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, R-Illinois, who said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
Well, given globalization and the passage of time, maybe we should amend that to 'a $100 billion here, a $100 billion there'.
The U.S. Treasury's $700 billion bail-out intended to stabilize the financial markets could take an already high U.S. Government budget deficit to truly astronomical -- and some say unsupportable -- levels.
The deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office in its most recent forecast (pdf) said will total $407 billion in Fiscal 2008 and $438 billion in Fiscal 2009, could exceed $1 trillion next year, if U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan is passed as outlined, says economist Richard Felson.
In additional, the national debt -- the deficit accumulated over the decades -- would rise above $11 trillion.
"The calculation is based on a majority of distressed assets being recorded in the next year, and Congress probably will authorize the U.S. Treasury to do that," Felson said. "If the asset purchases are spread out, next year's deficit would be about $750 billion or $800 billion, but these are still enormous sums, effectively doubling the budget deficit."
A new survey has found that the percentage of economists forecasting a recession has more than doubled, 
Closing Bell: Dubai sends jitters throughout the market (S, BBY)
Heinz looking good after the second quarter?
Why isn't Bank of America updating its shareholders on CEO situation?
