The '16 trillion' is reached by aggregating all of the dollars in loans regardless of their term (page 131 of the actual GAO report) So super-short overnight loans which were rolled over day-to-day were counted, e.g., 365 times a year.
The GAO notes that this is ridiculous on the same page that the article cites, and then goes on to provide a more representative table on page 132, showing the annualized yearly average outstanding loan amount on a counterparty basis ('term adjusted'). Total loans come out to 1.1 trillion, not 16 trillion, and that's over a 3 year period.
"In late 2008, the TARP Bailout bill was passed and loans of $800 billion were given to failing banks and companies. That was a blatant lie considering the fact that Goldman Sachs alone received 814 billion dollars."
Innumeracy is a real problem. Political innumeracy is even more serious.