BAILOUT PLAN EXPANDS:

Student, car debt quietly added to bailout plan, credit cards and possibly foreign banks all could be part of the bailout package.

In the dark of night over the weekend when most people were snoozing, the Treasury dramatically expanded its bailout plan to include buying student loans, car loans, credit card debt and any other "troubled" assets held by banks.

A Monday counterproposal by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd included such consumer loans as well as mortgages, just as the Treasury's draft did Saturday night.

"The costs of the bailout will be significantly higher than originally considered or acknowledged," said Joshua Rosner, managing director of Graham Fisher & Co., who charged that the Treasury and Federal Reserve have not been "forthright" about the ultimate cost to the public. The plan gives Treasury the discretion to buy the non-mortgage loans and securities in consultation with the Fed.

Conservatives cited the move as a sign that the massive plan to take over bad mortgage debt already is opening the door to further government bailouts.

"Such a large takeover by the government will surely be accompanied by adverse, unintended consequences," said Pat Toomey, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative advocacy group. "Already, other companies and industries are lining up at government's door asking for their own bailout."

Read more at the Washington Times.