Bailout Billions Falling Way Short

Friday, October 17, 2008 12:00 PM

By: Greg Brown

Here’s a stunning number for you: Thanks to the credit mess, the combined profits of all major banks in recent years has vanished.

Since the middle of 2007, the country’s nine biggest banks have written down assets worth $323 billion.

Now analysts believe they’ll need to raise another $275 billion, on top of the taxpayers’ largesse.

It’s so bad — and still getting worse — that most big banks now admit that they won’t be loaning out any of that $700 billion in bailout money soon, reports The New York Times.

“We will have the opportunity to redeploy that,â€