The misery worsened on Wall Street Tuesday, with stocks piling on losses late in the session and bringing the two-day decline in the Dow Jones industrials to more than 875 points amid escalating worries about credit markets and the financial sector. ...more

October 7, 2008

Democrats won a key concession from the White House on legislation to bail out the financial industry on Wednesday, then sought to scale back the $700 billion price tag. President Bush readied a prime-time speech to rally public support for his plan to stave off a deepening economic crisis. ...more

September 24, 2008

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the worsening financial crisis could prove a major weight on U.S. business growth and pledged to "act as needed" to brace the wobbly economy. ...more

September 24, 2008

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke bluntly warned reluctant lawmakers Tuesday they risk a recession with higher unemployment and increased home foreclosures unless they act on the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry. ...more

September 23, 2008

The stock market plummets, investors pull out money and loans dry up, triggering global financial turmoil. Enter the government, buying up bad mortgages and other problem assets. ...more

September 22, 2008

As officials in Washington raced to put together a bailout plan for the nation's teetering financial system, Sen. John McCain hammered Sen. Barack Obama as part of the problem while Obama said any rescue should include a new stimulus package for families. ...more

September 20, 2008

The Bush administration, moving to prevent an economic cataclysm, urged Congress on Friday to grant it far-reaching emergency powers to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of distressed mortgages despite many unknowns about how the plan would work. ...more

September 20, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration sketched out a multifaceted effort on Friday to confront the worst U.S. financial crisis in decades, outlining a program that could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to buy up bad mortgages and other toxic debt that has unhinged Wall Street. ...more

September 19, 2008

"Ben Bernanke's Fed: The Federal Reserve After Greenspan" by Ethan S. Harris, Harvard Business Press, 237 pages ($26.95) ...more

August 31, 2008

The economy pulled out of a dangerous rough patch in the spring, thanks largely to strong exports, but the rebound isn't expected to last. Economic slowdowns overseas could make exports tail off just as Americans are hunkering down after the bracing impact of rebate checks wanes, plunging the country into another rut this year. ...more

August 29, 2008