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All that excitement over the plane crash squeezed out coverage from the rest of the world. News that Israel's War Cabinet is preparing to end its incursion into the Gaza Strip was mentioned only in passing and only by ABC. Not even the Hudson River excitement could block out the deteriorating stability of a couple of major banks. All three newscasts assigned a correspondent to cover Bank of America and Citigroup. The nationalization of the banking industry took another major stride as the Treasury Department committed another $138bn--$20bn in capital, $118bn in guarantees--to Bank of America. "It is back to the bailout trough!" exclaimed CBS' Anthony Mason. "The reason for the rescue this time? The bank's shotgun marriage with Merrill Lynch in September is on the rocks."
Citigroup, which lost $8bn in the final quarter of 2008, split into two entities, a functioning bank and a depository for its failed assets. CNBC's Trish Regan reminded us on NBC that the Treasury Department has already invested $45bn in Citi, with guarantees of more than $300bn. Even the so-called sound side of the bank, loans to businesses and consumers, may be in trouble, Betsy Stark warned on ABC: "They are starting to see defaults on the supposedly safe bets they have made."
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