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

Can Obama's bailout succeed where Bushes failed?

Hello again, I'm Warren Olney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says it might cost a trillion dollars or more

to avoid what he called complete collapse of our financial system.

He concedes that's a big number, especially when Americans have lost faith in government action,

but he promised accountability and transparency.

Today we'll look at his much-anticipated plan

and see what it means for banks, businesses, homeowners, and taxpayers.

On reporter's notebook later on,

from Bush to Obama on state secrets and terrorist suspects.

Is there change?

Or, surprisingly, more of the same.

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. McCarthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To The Point.

George W. Bush spent $350 billion taxpayer dollars to rescue financial institutions.

Barack Obama went up to a trillion more.

We'll hear how the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner describes the program and the promise of accountability and transparency.

On reporter's notebook, Obama administration lawyers surprised federal judges by making no change from the Bush administration on state secrets and extraordinary rendition of terrorist suspects.

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