It was an extraordinary federal takeover of a private American company.

The government has agreed to pony-up $85 billion to keep insurance giant American International Group Inc. from going under. In return the government gets an 80 percent stake in the company.

Regulators say letting the company fail would have caused financial calamity. But can taxpayers afford all these bailouts?

The bailout came after government officials determined that it would be too dangerous to let AIG fail. On Wall Street Wednesday and on Capital Hill, the house is holding a hearing on how the mortgage industry is handling the foreclosure crisis and what can be done to help homeowners in trouble.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress seem to agree Wednesday that to have done nothing would have been much worse.

Uncle Sam now owns the lions share of the nation's biggest insurance company.

AIG sells life, auto, property and workers comp insurance. It holds billions in retirement and pension plans and is even the largest insurer of aircraft.

"We have few alternatives other than to step in," said Sen. Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois.

The insurance giant was crushed by tons of bad mortgage securities, part of the sub-prime mortgage mess.

As Wall Street continues to crumble, average American taxpayers are being forced to ride to the rescue. The cost so far, nearly a trillion dollars.

"It's time to bailout the taxpayer from the bailout business," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, (R) Texas.

"I'm not going to get into the blame game, we are in the act lead and govern game," said Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary.

The White House insists that taxpayers will be paid back, as the government sells off pieces of the company. Foreclosures remain at the root of America's economic woes. Home prices have fallen 15 percent this year. Congress is now frantic to find a way to find a way to keep distressed borrowers in their homes.

"We need a bailout of the middle class and we need to do it quickly," said Sen. Patty Murray, (D) Washington.

Government sponsored low interest mortgage replacement loans are one idea and of course, trying to fix the regulatory mistakes that allowed this to happen in the first place.