Good news! Only $700 billion!

More details continue to emerge from Treasury Secretary Paulson's proposed bail-out of distressed mortgages from various financial institutions. Whereas some pundits are predicting a cost of up to $1 trillion or more, this initial request is for $700 billion, thereby putting to rest any administration hopes of invading Iran! From a Wall Street Journal story:

The federal government is asking Congress for $700 billion to buy up distressed assets as part of its plan to help halt the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

The Treasury Department sent Congress legislative language last night asking for broad authority to buy assets from U.S. financial institutions. The request is just two-and-a-half pages and contains a broad outline of how this new entity would function. The government wanted to keep the plan simple, in part because it wants the flexibility to adjust what its doing as market conditions change, a person familiar with the matter said.

Among the things the government is asking for is the authority to hire asset managers to oversee the buying of assets. The bare-bones request may irk Congress, which is already expressing concerns about the plan. It could present an opportunity for Congress to stack the bill with other provisions, such as more housing relief.

The proposal would give the Treasury secretary significant leeway in buying, selling and holding residential or commercial mortgages, as well as "any securities, obligations or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages."

The only limitation would be that purchases couldn't exceed $700 billion outstanding at any one time. That figure compares with the $515 billion President George W. Bush included in his fiscal 2009 base budget request for the Department of Defense. The plan also calls for an increase in the public debt limit, boosting it to $11.3 trillion...

House and Senate lawmakers, working hand-in-hand with the Bush administration, are expected to work throughout the weekend on finalizing the details of the plan. Congressional leaders have targeted a vote on the comprehensive plan for the coming week, though that will depend on the ability of the White House and Congress to agree on a final product.

The proposal would expire after two years but would allow the government to hold the assets purchased from financial firms -- which must be headquartered in the U.S. -- for as long as is deemed necessary by the Treasury. Any assets purchased through the program would have to be tied to mortgages originated before Sept. 17 of this year.

The plan offered to Congress also gives the Treasury legal immunity from any lawsuits. "Decisions by the secretary pursuant to the authority are non-reviewable … and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency," the proposal says...

The most ambitious part of the government plan is to create a new entity to purchase impaired assets from financial firms. The process could work as a type of reverse auction, in which the government would buy from the institution that sells its assets for the lowest bid.

However, the government may find itself in a quandary: Does it pay more than fair-market value for hard-to-assess distressed assets, putting taxpayers on the hook for any losses? Or does it drive a hard bargain, buying for pennies on the dollar? The latter approach would further hurt financial institutions, since they would have to write down the losses and take additional hits to their balance sheets. The Treasury department, which hasn't commented on specifics about the plan, is expected to propose issuing debt in $50 billion tranches to fund the purchases.

"I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative -- a continuing series of financial-institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion," Mr. Paulson said at a morning press conference...

In another bid to provide liquidity, The Fed Friday, said it would buy short-term debt issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks through primary dealers. The Fed said it would buy up to $69 billion of these securities, called discount notes, to ease the crunch in the market.

The SEC ban on short selling of some financial stocks -- an attempt to stem some of the worst stock-market slides in years -- is effective immediately and will last 10 days, but could be extended for up to 30 days.