Some Details About the $700 Billion Dollar Bail Out

Ok, I'm just as turned around on this bailout thing, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the bill that should pass will have these components.

-- Provides up to $700 billion, starting with an initial $250 billion, for the Treasury Department to purchase troubled assets, mainly in the area of mortgages, that are weighing down the financial system.

-- Gives the Treasury Department, working with experts chosen by the government, the authority to fashion the asset purchase program.

-- Requires the Treasury to modify troubled loans wherever possible to help families keep their homes. It also directs other federal agencies to modify loans that they own or control.

-- Calls for restrictions on the pay and benefits received by executives whose companies are selling some of their bad assets through the government's purchase program.

-- The Treasury would be required to provide details of its purchases within two days of the transactions and various oversight boards would be created to monitor the operation of the program.

-- Taxpayers would be given ownership stakes in companies whose bad assets are purchased. After five years, if the government is facing a loss in the program, the president would be required to submit a plan recommending how the money could be recouped from financial companies.

-- Establishes a program whereby banks could buy government insurance that would cover the principal and interest on certain troubled assets, rather than selling them outright. Premiums would vary depending on the assets' risk profile.