When Timothy Geithner unveiled his plan (formally the Financial Stability Plan) last week, he mentioned a stress test that would be given to the larger banks. Regulators have been sent to these financial institutions with the stated mission of evaluating the solvency (or insolvency) level of each institution. If a bank is found to be healthy, it will be left alone. If it is still solvent enough to survive, the government will provide it with more capital. If it is insolvent, the government will take it into receivership.

The stimulus plan passed the House and Senate Friday night and is now on its way to possibly doing a small bit of economic good while continuing to be torn apart by everyone and their brother. Call me cynical.

If you’d like to see exactly what was in the version that passed- and don’t want to read through 1,000 pages of documents- follow the links below. (Cont…)