Bush: Bank Buyout Needed 'To Preserve Free Market'

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday took the wraps off a historic and reworked financial-rescue plan, confirming that the United States will take equity stakes in nine banks, backstop virtually all non-interest-bearing bank accounts and guarantee most new loans between banks.

The White House plan marks the first such deep government intervention in markets since the Great Depression. Bush noted that he didn't take the aggressive and unusual steps lightly, stressing that "these measures are not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it."