LJ is right, everything else was just tax breaks, no spending. The whole bailout thing is the .gov taking on the responsibility of bad loans, so that creditors can get money flowing again. Some of the bad loans will end up getting paid off like loans are suppose to, at which point they are no longer bad loans and they will actually make the .gov some cash. Some of the loans will be defaulted on, but that's to be expected. So in the end, the .gov can actually make money off this deal, assuming these upside down loans actually get paid on.