The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
November 13, 2008

Treasury Says Bailout Won’t Focus on Toxic Assets
-------------------------------------------------



The Bush administration says it plans to shift course in how it will
hand out the $700 billion bailout to Wall Street. On Wednesday, Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson said the government no longer plans to buy up
the toxic assets of financial firms. Instead, Paulson said the bailout
will focus on boosting financing for companies that give out loans.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson: “Over these past weeks, we have
continued to examine the relative benefits of purchasing illiquid
mortgage-related assets. Our assessment at this time is that this is not
the most effective way to use TARP [Troubled Assets Relief Program]
funds, but we will continue to examine whether targeted forms of asset
purchase can play a useful role, relative to other potential uses of
TARP resources, in helping to strengthen our financial system and
support lending.”

The Treasury Department says it’s still finalizing details of the new
approach.