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Iceland could become the first "national bankruptcy" of the global financial crisis. The nation's currency has lost nearly half of its value and banks are collapsing under the heavy debt. Tom Braithwaite, a reporter for the Financial Times, talks about Iceland's financial mess.

One day after their first debate, John McCain is back in Washington to work on the economic bailout, while Barack Obama is campaigning in North Carolina and Virginia.

The House of Representatives rejected a $700 billion dollar financial bailout plan yesterday. As a result, the Dow dropped over 700 points, the largest stock drop in history. Two congressmen discuss voting for and against the bailout plan yesterday.

On Friday, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain squared off at the University of Mississippi in the first of three scheduled debates. But some say that neither of the candidates gave a stellar performance in their exchanges over foreign policy and the economic crisis.

The government announced Tuesday that it plans to buy huge amounts of short-term debts from companies. The Fed will buy "commercial paper," a short-term financing mechanism that many companies use to finance their day-to-day operations, like meeting payroll or purchasing supplies.

President Bush announced a plan that will allow the U.S. government to spend about $250 billion of its $700 billion bailout program to buy equity stakes in banks. The government has been careful to call the program a "recapitalization" plan.

Last week alone, Barack Obama outspent John McCain by about $6 million in television advertising. Jonathan Martin of Politico says there are two elements to the story: Obama's enormous fundraising advantage over McCain, and how much money the Democrat is pouring into advertising in red states.

The U.S. House has reversed itself and given final approval to a giant economic bailout bill. The measure — revised, re-framed and expanded — passed comfortably by a vote of 263 to 171. It attracted 26 more Republicans and 32 more Democrats than last Monday night.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has signaled Fed policymakers will cut interest rates later this month. He said "downside risks to growth have increased," and that the outlook for inflation has improved.

Republican John McCain has reversed course and decided to take part in Friday's presidential debate in Oxford, Miss. He also is resuming his campaign, which was suspended Wednesday. McCain spent the afternoon flying down to the debate's site.