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

Stress tests, economics and politics.

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

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

The Obama administration does not want to nationalize banks that appear to be failing, and Congress is not

likely to come up with more bailout money. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Geithner said,

no worries. There's enough bank bailout money left that he won't have to ask Congress for more.

But what about those stress tests now being conducted on the 19 biggest

banks? If the economic crisis gets worse, will they have enough money to lend? If the stress

tests are set up so that nobody fails, will they have credibility? If they reveal basic problems,

will the result be panic rather than reassurance? On reporter's notebook later on, can garbage produce a sustainable fuel?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers

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and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation,

the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,

and the Rockefeller Foundation,

and its campaign for American workers. More at rockfound.org. Hello again, Warren Allie, back with To the Point.

The so-called stress tests on 19 big banks have postponed decisions that could be politically

unpopular for the Obama administration. Now that the results are due, we'll hear what the consequences

might be. On reporter's notebook, transportation produces almost a quarter of all greenhouse gases

...