Bailout talk boosts S. Florida prospects

A still abstract federal government proposal to buy up to $700 billion in bad debt from ailing U.S. banks and institutions could help the region’s battered housing market. South Florida real estate and banking leaders say that just the notion has provided a sense of relief. Details of the plan remain in short supply, and political debate is expected to shape the final proposal. Martin Schubert, head of European Inter-American Finance Corp. in Miami, says the longer Congress waits to approve the Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson’s plan, the worse the fear will become and the greater the danger of an all-out credit crisis.