Financial companies eyed in bailout
The Treasury Department is moving forward on how to spend the $700 billion rescue fund, and is thinking about buying up stakes in more companies. Alisa Roth reports the idea is to support a wider range of financial companies.
Capitol Hill at sunrise (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
More on America's Financial Crisis
TEXT OF STORY
Renita Jablonski: Glad to have you along on this Election Day morning as we continue with our coverage of financial crisis fallout. Part of that is the work still left for the Bush Administration. As we wait to see who will be moving into the White House next, the Treasury Department is moving forward on how to spend the $700 billion rescue fund. The Wall Street Journal says this morning the department is thinking about buying up stakes in more companies. Marketplace's Alisa Roth has more.
Alisa Roth: The idea would be to support a wider range of financial companies. Companies like the financial arm of General Electric, GE Capital Unit. There could also be some support for companies that insure bonds, such as Ambac Financial.
The original bailout program was designed to help banks, in part to encourage them to continue lending to businesses, consumers and each other. But a lot of non-bank companies have also been hurt, and some of these could be helped by an expanded program.
Today's election could make any new plans more complicated. The Treasury Secretary says he wants to include the new administration in making plans from here on out. But both candidates have strong ideas on how they'd like the rescue to be handled. The Treasury Department's only saying that it's looking at a lot of different options.
In New York, I'm Alisa Roth for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.