Geithner's $1 Trillion Toxic Plan

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner got an early start to a busy week this morning as he officially unveiled his widely leaked plan to spend $1 trillion over time—including $75-100 billion from the initial bank bailout—to back so-called "toxic" assets. "Our job is to fix the problem in the financial sector at the least risk to the taxpayer," he said. Facing criticism that Americans are increasingly fed up over a solution perceived to favor Wall Street over Main Street, Geithner said: "Anger and outrage is perfectly understandable. We have to make sure our assistance is not going to reward failure." The new plan uses $500 billion to buy the toxic assets from struggling banks. Markets seemed to endorse the plan, with the Dow up over 250 points in morning trading.