President Bush poised to follow UK with $250bn seizure of bank stakes$

President Bush is today expected to unveil firm plans to use $250 billion worth of US taxpayer funds to seize stakes in nine of America’s biggest banks as part of a move to stabilize the US banking system. The proposal to use part of Washington’s $700 billion rescue fund to buy bank stock is expected to be announced by the White House today. The plans follow emergency talks in Washington convened yesterday between Henry Paulson, US Treasury Secretary, and America’s most important bankers including Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, and John Mack, the chief executive of Morgan Stanley. The measures being drawn up by Washington represent just part of yesterday’s unprecedented multi-trillion-dollar bailout by governments and central bankers across the world to safeguard lenders, guarantee deposits and inject... [read full story]