Somber. Sobering. Warnings of an economic "meltdown."That's how participants described an emergency meeting held Thursday night between leaders of Congress and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The meeting was followed by an announcement from Paulson that he was preparing a far-reaching program - on a scale seen rarely in American history - to intervene in the shaky financial markets.
Paulson gave few details, although the plan's broad outline is for the federal government to buy hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of mortgage assets held by banks, Wall Street firms and other financial institutions. Details of the rescue plan were sent to members of Congress late Friday, according to reports.
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