Crisis will be resolved, Bush pledges

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Friday said Washington will begin to acquire stock in financial institutions as part of a plan to loosen credit markets.

Paulson spoke at the end of another down day on Wall Street, and after he and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke met with finance officials from Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Canada, The New York Times reported.

"We are developing strategies to use the authority to purchase and insure mortgage assets and to purchase equity in financial institutions, as deemed necessary to promote financial market stability," Paulson said.

U.S. President George W. Bush sought to reassure Americans Friday morning that the financial crisis will be resolved and market stability will be restored.

"This is an anxious time," Bush said. "But the American people can be confident in our economic future."

He said he recognized "this is a deeply unsettling period" and Americans were concerned about their retirement accounts, investment and their economic well-being.

"The United States government is acting," he said, "to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets."

The U.S. Federal Reserve has injected "hundreds of billions of dollars" into key markets to boost liquidity and has worked with its global counterparts to cut interest rates to free up credit, Bush said.

Federal officials will use a number of tools to help banks rebuild capital, he said.

The bailout plan is aggressive but will take time for its full impact to be felt, Bush said.

"It is the right plan," Bush said. "It is big enough to work."