Barry Ritholtz has run the numbers to put this whole bailout into perspective. Adjusted for inflation, here’s a rundown of costs for major government expenditures throughout our nation’s history:

• Marshall Plan: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: $217 billion
• Effort to Get to the Moon: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: $256 billion
• Korean War: $454 billion
• New Deal: $500 billion
• Iraqi Invasion: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: $698 billion
• NASA: $851.2 billion

Total Cost: $3.92 trillion. Soak that up for a second. We funded the Marshall Pan, New Deal, bought a chunk of the country, fought the Korean and Vietnam Wars, freed Iraq, and got to the moon for a modern-day price tag of $3.92 trillion.

Total cost of this year’s bailout alone? $7.7 trillion…and counting.

H/t The Corner, which notes that WWII cost around $3 trillion (adjusted for inflation). Yeah, WWII was cheaper than the current bailout.