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

Economic crisis, reality, and psychology.

Hello again, I'm Aranalny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look of the issues Americans care about most.

Major financial institutions are in big trouble. Indy Mac is the second biggest bank to

collapse in American history. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, backbone of the mortgage market,

are losing their stock value. One analyst calls them phony and fraudy. Experts insist will never

see another great depression, but many Americans

are losing confidence. On to the point, have regulators relaxed their standards and allowed the

free market to get out of control. Will the loss of consumer confidence help make things worse

before they get better? On Reporters' notebook later on, gasoline prices, offshore oil, and global warming in an

election year. First 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.

Agencies and regulations put in place after the Great Depression are supposed to ensure that no such thing can happen again.

But major financial institutions are in big trouble.

To the point, have the regulators been failing to do their jobs?

Will recovery be delayed by a crisis of confidence? On reporter's notebook, the pressure for offshore oil drilling meets concern

about global warming as Al Gore tries to change the agenda in Washington. First, this news update,

former Attorney General John Ashcroft testified before Congress today about so-called enhanced

interrogation initially approved by the Justice Department during his tenure.

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