Further Socializing

Paulson gave some new details of the emerging plans by the U.S. federal government to inject capital directly into a "broad array" of financial firms. He said that officials are working on a "standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions" and the Treasury is working as quickly as possible to nail down the details and get the recapitalization plan running. The government wants to "do it right. The plan is to attract private capital to complement the government's funds, he said. Paulson went out of his way to say existing shareholders would be protected, and that the government would only make the purchases through a "broadly available equity program" without any voting power, "except with the market standard terms to protect our rights as investors."