The administration of Barack Obama, the US president, has defended its plans to buy up billions of dollars of so-called toxic assets from banks in an attempt to encourage lending.Christina Romer, who chairs Obama's council of economic advisers, said on Sunday that the White House would put about $100bn into its latest initiative to shore up the economy.
Initial government funding for the scheme, which aims to ease borrowing for consumers and businesses, would come from the existing $700bn Wall Street bailout programme, Romer told CNN.
"The crucial thing is getting lending going again. I can't say that enough, and that is why we're doing this," she said.
"The crucial thing is it's being designed precisely so that it is going to be safe. We very much have the taxpayers' interest in mind, but we also have the interest of the whole economy on the mind."
Private investors will also be encouraged to help get billions of dollars of the toxic assets - purchases made by the banks that exposed them to large losses - off their balance sheets.