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

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

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

Paulson. Merrill Lynch. Lehman. Bernanke. Names are what investors start talking about at moments like this. Names, the faith is, will rescue Wall Street and, by extension, the U.S. economy. When a market crash is big enough, people are too panicked to think about the technicalities of reform. They think about the names they are losing and names who, they hope, will save the day. ...more

September 17, 2008

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreed on Saturday afternoon to the Bush administration's plan to rescue them, people briefed on the plan said. ...more

September 7, 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

Thrust into the role of financial firefighter, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has taken unprecedented steps over the past year to battle the nation's worst credit and financial crises in decades. ...more

August 21, 2008

Barack Obama thinks the government should intervene on gas prices to "give families some relief," and he called last week for releasing 70 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. ...more

August 17, 2008

The country slogged through slower economic growth and rising prices during the summer, packing a double whammy to people and businesses alike. ...more

July 24, 2008