From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Bolstering confidence in America's finances.

Hello again, I'm Warren Olney, and this is To the Point.

From Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

Last week,

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lost almost half their stock value, a real blow to the two companies that hold almost half all U.S. mortgages. Bankers, federal officials, and members of Congress

spent a busy weekend on a bailout that could mean billions in taxpayer money. On to the point, what's the early reaction?

Did they have any choice?

Also today, the president got what he wanted from the Democrats who run Congress,

including Barack Obama, who promised a filibuster but then voted yes.

We'll hear the political repercussions from the FISA bill,

expanding the government's power to tap phones.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. With half

America's mortgages worth $5 trillion, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, our companies regarded as too big to fail.

On To the Point, we'll get an early reaction to this weekend's proposed bailout. Will investors be

reassured?

Will taxpayers have to pay the bills?

On the second half of our program, the Democrats who run Congress give President Bush just what they wanted to expand federal surveillance.

Does Barack Obama's change of heart on the FISA bill show that he's not a different kind of politician after all. First, this news

...