Article: Caught in the money PIT; the federal government struggles to yank banks out of the hole it dug and then let them fall into.(FINANCE)

As autumn's chill fell, financial institutions that seemed strong and nimble creaked and buckled. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System tried to ease the pain with hundreds of billions of bailout dollars, but action came too late for Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. The nation's fourth-largest bank holding company, choked by subprime mortgages and struggling to borrow what it needed, was married off shotgun-style by regulators to San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. in December. Other Tar Heel banks suffered, too, and the agony will continue for some, says John Allison. He retired in December after 19 years as CEO of Winston-Salem-based BB&T ...

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