Now, how much did that cost?

Let’s see: that’ll be $85 billion for American International Group (the fabled AIG, supposedly “too big to fail,” but apparently not), $29 billion to JP Morgan Chase to enable them to rescue Bear Stearns, $200 billion or so for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and to top it all off, what the guys in the halls of power have the unmitigated gall to dub “The Mother of All Bailouts,” a $700 billion chunk of change that should save everyone else but us. And remember that incentive check we all got a few months ago, along with an invitation to run out and spend it? That was on us, too.

I couldn’t help noticing, as I watched “Meet the Press” and the other news shows over the weekend, that the talking heads were happily loading all of this debt onto the backs of what they called “the American taxpayer.” They were quick to add that this didn’t mean they advised an increase in the capital-gains tax, as this might scare off investors. They weren’t necessarily advocating an end to the Bush tax cuts, either. Goodness me, no!

The broadcast journalists had some rather telling things to say, too. One lively discussion involved how many $100,000 bank accounts a couple could have, and still count on FDIC protection for each one.

I wanted to shout into Television Land, as if down a well, “Hellloooooo in there! Remember us? The ones footing the bill?” Right now the average American saves less than $400 per year, and the average American household is carrying $117,951 in debt, including mortgages, credit-cards, installment loans, home-equity loans, and other contractual obligations.

And before you decide to judge these seemingly feckless folks, remember this: they are dealing with 5.4 percent inflation, health care costs that are increasing at an annual rate of 6.7 percent, gas prices that have gone up 35 percent this year alone, household energy costs that have risen 17 percent and wages that, on average, don’t come anywhere near keeping up with all of that.

Some 79 million American adults are having difficulty paying their medical bills — 41 percent of our adult population. That’s up from 34 percent less than three years ago. A couple headed into retirement without the benefit of ongoing health insurance coverage from an employer will need nearly a quarter of a million dollars to manage their health care. And 45 million Americans have no health care coverage at all.

All of these statistics, of course, pre-date the current mega-crisis in the world of American finance, which is said to result from greed. Or de-regulation. Or regulation that was out-of-date and didn’t match the circumstances of real-world global finance. Or a war that has cost $556,000,000,000 so far, and left the economy dependent on the housing industry. Or the fact that, as one brave commentator said, “All the grownups had left, and no one was in charge.” Well, well, well.

Susan Harper is director of the Commerce Public Library. She lives in Commerce.

For other columns and opinions, see the Sept. 24 edition of The Commerce News.