Asian markets dipped sharply this morning, reflecting pessimism about the latest headlines out of the United States.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson did little to comfort investors when he announced the $700 billion bailout plan was headed in another direction.
Mr. Paulson said "our first priority must be recovery and repair."
He says "Plan A," buying up toxic home mortgages, was just too time consuming.
Instead, the Treasury has been injecting money directly into banks to get home loans moving again.
Next, the Treasury wants to unfreeze the consumer credit market so americans can get loans for school and for cars.
But Secretary Paulson is resisting congressional pressure to transfuse $25 billion into hemorrhaging U.S. auto makers like GM.
Mr. Paulson said "any solution has got to be a solution leading to viability."
Meanwhile, Congress is proposing other rescue plans to keep the auto giants running.
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski wants tax deductions for auto loan interest.
Sen. Mikulski said "it helps consumers save money when they can buy a car. That's what consumers are looking for right now. How can they stretch their dollars?"
That would be part of a middle-class stimulus package the lame duck Congress wants to get to work on next week.
The House, Senate, and Bush Administration have just 68 days left to hammer out some sort of legislation or the new president and Congress may have to start from scratch.
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