Essential

The Bailout That Keeps on Giving

Treasury may take stake in troubled banks.

The latest chapter in the never-ending bailout: The Treasury Department is now considering taking an ownership stake in banks in order to unfreeze credit markets, reports The New York Times. The move, which is allowed by the $700 billion bailout, would inject capital directly into the banks, although it's unclear, at this point, how exactly it would work. Economists hope that such a move would directly relieve banks' worries about lending to consumers and each other. "We need to eliminate that uncertainty as fast as we can," said one free-market Republican, "and one way to do that is by injecting capital directly into banks."