Several sources are reporting the current price tag for the bailout of the financial system. According to the Washington Post’s Binyamin Appelbaum, “…the Treasury Department has now spent or committed more money than Congress has allocated to its financial rescue program, effectively making more promises than it can afford to keep. The scorecard: Congress gave Treasury $350 billion; Treasury has allocated $354.4 billion.” Another perspective, on total expenditures of $8.5 trillion, comes from Barry Ritholtz’s blog posting, Calculating the Total Bailout Costs, inclusive of a handy spreadsheet.