Good News? Bailout Peaked at $11.6 Trillion

Monday, October 5, 2009 3:26 PM

By: Dan Weil

The financial crisis bailout tab stands at a whopping $11.6 trillion for Uncle Sam, but the total is shrinking thanks to the Federal Reserve’s curtailment of its massive monetary stimulus.

The Fed is allowing some of the 10 support programs it created or expanded after the credit crisis began in August 2007 to expire or shrink.

That move has sparked the first decrease in the amount committed by U.S. taxpayers to pull the economy out of its meltdown, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The first thing the Fed had to do was stop the bleeding in the banking system,â€