The Savings and Loan Crisis resulted in the failure of over 1,000 banks with over $500 billion in assets on their books. The FDIC estimates that the total cost to resolve the crisis was $153 billion. This was needed to administer the closing of defunct banks, pay the insurance on savings account deposits, and pay off other debts. Of this, the taxpayer cost was $124 billion.
The Federal Government could spend around $2 trillion for the current Financial Crisis bailout. This includes the $700 billion bailout package to purchase subprime mortgages, the $100 billion that the ]link url=http://useconomy.about.com/od/governmentagencies/p/Treasury.htm]Treasury Department has spent to guarantee the mortgages of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve's over $1 trillion expenditure if you count the Term Auction Facility, and the bailouts of Bear Stearns and AIG.
However, the important thing to realize is that this is what the government is fronting to keep liquidity in the market. This will not be the final bill. That's because most of the mortgages that are being guaranteed will not default if the housing market revives. The Federal government's intervention is designed to restore liquidity, return the markets to normal functioning. When this is successful, the money will be repaid, and it shouldn't cost the taxpayers directly. The only way he Federal Government would get stuck with the bill, is if the housing and financial markets decline into a Depression. Then it would, of course, be much, much more expensive than the S&L Crisis.
Of most concern is that no one knows exactly how deep the Subprime Mortgage Crisis goes. This was also the problem with the S&L Crisis, and the reason costs kept mounting.
