Britannia Radio

It's a bit like "Waiting for Godot", whom, you will all remember,  
never turned up!  But it looks as though a deal IS in prospect and we 
should know before we go to bed tomorrow (Sunday) night.

The alternative to this deal is - of course - no deal, and if that 
were to happen the contagion would go global instantly and the 
savings wherever lodged of everybody could become worthless.   So 
fingers crossed, or down on your knees,  according to preference.

Meanwhile Brown, having wrecked this joint, tells us all to behave 
responsibly.    I wonder if Cameron has noticed that there is a 
crisis yet ?

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REUTERS   27.9.08  at 2.38 pm EDT (= 7.38 BST)
Congress races to reach bailout deal before Monday
By Richard Cowan and Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress raced to strike a deal on a 
proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry in an intense 
weekend negotiating session aimed at alleviating the worst financial 
crisis since the Great Depression.

Pressed to act before Asian markets open on Monday, negotiators vowed 
to lock themselves in a room until they reach an agreement on buying 
distressed debt from financial institutions staggering under the 
weight of failed mortgages.

Negotiators worked through the night and into Saturday after much of 
the country paused to watch Friday's first debate between the 
presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John 
McCain.

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, chief negotiator for Senate 
Republicans, told reporters there would be a meeting with principal 
lawmakers later on Saturday.
"The basic understanding is when we get in that room as principals, 
we're going to stay there until we reach an agreement or can't reach 
an agreement -- which hopefully won't happen," Gregg said.
"We will stay until we've done something that addresses this issue in 
a very comprehensive and effective way."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said "time is 
not our ally" and set a goal of holding a vote on a Monday.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid pushed a deadline for an 
agreement of 6 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Sunday "because that's when the 
Asian markets open."

President George W. Bush said he was confident the legislation being 
negotiated would be passed "very soon" and that there was "widespread 
agreement" on major principles.

Pressure to reach a deal was intense after last week's white-knuckle 
ride on the financial markets in which some big, heavily indebted 
banks teetered, collapsed or refused to lend money to each other at 
low rates of interest despite massive central bank liquidity injections.

Meanwhile, further signs pointed to a recession with unemployment up, 
orders for durable goods down, and housing starts plunging to 17-year 
lows.

In the latest chapter in the transformation of Wall Street, 
regulators seized savings and loan Washington Mutual Inc on Thursday 
in the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, selling its assets to 
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

FEARS OF CONTAGION
Investors fretted about contagion into Europe, where Belgian-Dutch 
financial group Fortis NV fired its interim chief executive after 
liquidity concerns pushed shares down more than 20 percent to a 14-
year low.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned that the world 
faced a serious, long-lasting slowdown because of the crisis.
At the U.S. Capitol, The lead negotiator for the House Republicans 
indicated they stood firmly against a Democratic plan to recoup funds 
that the Treasury may recover from flipping the debt or holding it 
until maturity and using that to fund affordable housing.
"We're not going to vote for things that fund big, political 
organizations, instead of putting money back into the Treasury," 
Republican Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri told ABC's Good Morning America.

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, stressed that the 
insurance provision was option added out of respect to House 
Republicans but that it might never be used.
"Of course Secretary Paulson says it can't work. I don't understand 
how it works because if you insure all the bonds it's $7 trillion and 
make banks pay a premium -- you could bankrupt a whole lot of banks 
the premium would be so high," said Schumer, referring to Treasury 
Secretary Henry Paulson.

As the majority in Congress, Democrats could have sought to force a 
bill through the House and Senate and onto the president's desk for 
signature into law, but leaders demanded a deal that would satisfy 
both parties.
"If there is the belief that there is a bipartisan agreement, it 
takes us a long way in terms of market reaction," said Sen. Richard 
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.

With the entire House and one-third of the Senate facing re-election 
on November 4, some lawmakers were fighting a popular backlash to the 
plan in their home districts.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who serves on the Senate 
Banking Committee, said lawmakers were encountering extraordinary 
voter anger.

Referring to his own Senate office, Corker said, "We had, I'm going 
to guess, 3,500 calls this week about this particular issue. I've had 
95 calls in support of it if that gives you any indication."
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(Writing by Daniel Trotta; editing by Chris Wilson. Additional 
reporting by David Lawder, Donna Smith and Tabassum Zakaria and Kevin 
Drawbaugh in Washington)