Government Weighs Options for Fixing Financial Crisis

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 22, 2008 at 8:20 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

America faces a financial meltdown. Set up by the deregulation of the 1990s and precipitated by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, large and venerable investment banks -- Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, Me

Tom Fudge : Congress and the Bush administration are still drafting a bailout plan for this country's battered banking and credit industry. While the Bush administration urges fast action, members of Congress want certain guarantees. They want to put a limit on the amount of taxpayer money that can go to executive salaries at the companies in line for relief.

The United States is now facing what might be its most dangerous economic time since the great depression. This time, the pile of bad paper the economy is built on was the result of careless lending to people buying homes. The bailout the government is now considering could cost taxpayers $700 billion.

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Guests

Dean Calbreath , business reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Dan Seiver , professor of finance at San Diego State University.