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digits 2008 Was Year Of Big Numbers

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 2, 2009

It was the year the U.S. government pledged more than $8.5 trillion in loans and guarantees to bail out struggling companies. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson appeared on the cover of the New York Post more than celebrity heiress Paris Hilton. Stockholders lost more than $30 trillion in market value. Here's a look at 2008 through the numbers:

$30 trillion

Amount erased from the value of stocks worldwide

$8.6 trillion

Amount of taxpayer money the U.S. government has pledged to prop up cash-strapped financial companies as of Nov. 25, according to data compiled by Bloomberg

$61,871

Maximum amount the bailout could cost each taxpayer, based on 139 million tax returns filed in 2007

$440,000

Cost of a resort retreat for AIG salespeople days after it was bailed out in September

11.7 million

Number of households that owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to Zillow.com.

2.7 million

The number of unemployed since last December, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor in December

71

Number of years since the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has fallen this much (1937)

2, 1

Number of pictures, respectively, of Henry Paulson and Paris Hilton on the front page of the New York Post, according to a LexisNexis search and the Post's online archives
0

Number of the five largest securities firms that aren't now banks or partly owned by the U.S. government

Source: Bloomberg News

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