WASHINGTON - The Bush administration plans to spend an initial $250 billion of the $700 billion bailout buying stock in private banks, greatly expanding protections for the U.S. financial system out of deep concern for the faltering economy, industry and government officials said Monday night. President Bush planned to announce the details Tuesday morning.
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Agreement on the plan came after a remarkable Treasury Department meeting between top government economic officials and executives of the nation's largest banks to revamp the most costly financial rescue in the nation's history.
The plan also would provide a way for the government to insure loans that banks make to each other, a critical part of the credit system that has become frozen and put many businesses in peril.
Earlier Monday, stocks soared around the world in response to dramatic government economic relief efforts in the U.S. and overseas — and the possibility of the even bolder American action.
Monday night, the Treasury Department said the administration had decided on "comprehensive actions" to bolster public confidence in the nation's financial system. Bush was to be briefed early Tuesday by economic advisers and then announce the plan, which Treasury said was designed to "restore functioning of our credit markets."
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081014/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown
