After the binge comes the tab: $1.6 trillion. That’s the hit American taxpayers face as a result of the Fed’s financial manipulations, in which the central bank racked up some $9 trillion in assets under the guise of “Quantitative Easing.” The idea was to stimulate the economy, buying long-term bonds to push down interest rates. Now that interest rates have jumped, though, the Fed is paying more for deposits in its vaults than it’s earning from its portfolio.