financial bailout

Historians will look back on Washington's bailout of GM and Wall Street as the right move. That's because it's now clear that the costs of doing nothing would have been far higher, and it turns out that taxpayers may suffer only limited losses on this economic Hail Mary pass.

The rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost as much as $363 billion over the next three years -- more than double the amount spent so far -- the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Thursday.

The new consumer finance bureau is making some new rules: Banks can't be too big to fail, taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for corporate mistakes, and consumers need protection from investment firms looking to boost their bottom lines.

The results of the buzzworthy Bank Stress Test, released Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern, say 10 out of the 19 biggest U.S. financial institutions need a combined $75 billion to stay afloat through the financial downturn. My bank, Bank of America, was found to need the most cash -- almost $40 billion....