The business news channel CNBC is estimating the US government has already spent more than $4 trillion over the past year on corporate bailouts, loans and other efforts to combat the financial crisis. That is more than what was spent on World War II if adjusted for inflation. CNBC calculated the figure based on what it described as a complicated cocktail of budgeted dollars, actual spending, guarantees, loans, swaps and other market mechanisms by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other offices of government.