Summary: After weeks of contentious and often emotional debate, the federal government's far-reaching and historic plan to bail out the nation's financial system was signed into law by President Bush. The plan puts up $700 billion of taxpayer money in an effort to ease the nation's frozen credit markets.

Summary: On October 3, 2008, President Bush and Congress approved a controversial bill that injected $700 billion into an ailing financial system-the most expensive government intervention in history. In addition to allowing troubled financial institutions to sell their troubled mortgage-related assets to the U.S. Government, the bailout package, among other provisions, raises the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 and encourages loan servicers to mitigate foreclosures for at-risk homeowners.

Summary: From the mortgage lenders and the Fed to the borrowers themselves, there's plenty of blame to go around in the current subprime lending crisis. This article identifies the usual suspects behind the ongoing money crunch.

Summary: Uncle Sam has just become the 800 pound gorilla in the U.S. mortgage market. The Bush administration is seizing troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a bid to help reverse a prolonged housing and credit crisis.

Summary: Mortgage lenders threw caution to the wind, and everyday Americans are paying $700 billion to save them. Are we learning the right lessons from the ongoing credit crisis?

Summary: The number of foreclosures soared in 2007, with 405,000 households losing their home. The figure is a 51 percent over 2006 numbers, which showed 268,532 homes being repossessed.