Bailout handouts

When the House balked at the Bush administration's $700-billion plan to aid Wall Street, stocks plummeted and the credit crisis intensified. Key lending rates skyrocketed, threatening to drive even more adjustable-rate mortgages into default. General Electric Co., its financial business withering, announced plans for a $12-billion cash infusion -- plus at least $3 billion from Warren Buffet. California Treasurer Bill Lockyer even warned that the frozen credit markets threatened the state's ability to pay its bills, as well as jeopardizing new bond issues for highway, school, housing and water projects.

October 2, 2008