Department Of The Treasury U S

The Bush administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system, combining what is now an alphabet soup of government agencies into three streamlined regulators. The proposal is the result of a year of study by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and has the support of the president, according to Treasury officials who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday.

Henry Paulson was supposed to bring a fresh dose of Wall Street to Washington. As it turns out, he's doing the very opposite. As Treasury secretary, he has become the Bush administration's point man and chief spokesman on a series of government interventions in the economy -- including the plan likely to be approved by Congress to put the full resources of the U.S. Treasury behind faltering home mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Unveiling its plan to rescue the nation's financial system from near-paralysis, the Bush administration is asking Congress for the authority to spend $700 billion and for powers to intervene in the economy so sweeping that they have virtually no precedent in U.S. history.

In an extraordinary response to the escalating financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said Friday that the government would buy direct stakes in banks and other financial institutions for the first time since the Great Depression. Paulson had initially dismissed the idea of taking equity stakes in crippled banks, and his change of heart may reflect a growing conviction that the severity of the credit crisis warrants a more direct approach.

In this hard-hit corner of the nation's mortgage meltdown and credit crisis, it's hard to find anybody who sees evidence that the Treasury Department's $700-billion rescue plan is working after two months.

The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 5.010%, up from 4.995% last week. An additional $14 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.980%, up from 4.965% last week. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors -- 5.145% for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,873.36, and 5.18% for a six-month bill selling for $9,748.23.

The Treasury Department auctioned $19 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 5.01%, unchanged from last week. An additional $15 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.955%, down from 4.98% last week. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors -- 5.145% for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,873.36, and 5.153% for a six-month bill selling for $9,749.50.

The Treasury Department auctioned $19 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 5.025%, up from 5.01% last week. An additional $15 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at 4.965%, up from 4.955% last week. The three-month rate was the highest since Jan. 22, 2001, when it averaged 5.09%. The six-month rate was the highest since Jan. 29 of this year, when it was 4.98%. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value.

OK, so Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea didn't get the job done. Now the U.S. Mint is rolling out the big guns: George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. But even the founding fathers may not be able to handle this challenge. In 1979, unhappy over the speed with which $1 bills wore out and the cost of replacing them, the Treasury Department issued a dollar coin featuring Anthony, the women's rights crusader. But the public wasn't buying -- or, rather, using.

The Treasury Department auctioned $21 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 5.035%, the same as last week. An additional $17 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.950%, also the same as last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,872.73, while a six-month bill sold for $9,749.75.