(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-26 23:51

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the troubles that brought down Wall Street's once mighty Bear Stearns underscore the government's need to strengthen and clarify the rules governing an array of financial players from commercial banks to investment houses.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, pictured on March 13, said Tuesday that America's Social Security program for the retired is "financially unsustainable" and needs an urgent overhaul. [Agencies]

Paulson, in a speech Wednesday to the US Chamber of Commerce here, says the Bush administration will soon release such a blueprint aimed at promoting, among other things, the smooth functioning of financial markets. For months the financial markets — rocked by the double blows of a housing and credit crises — have been suffering through extreme turmoil, threatening to plunge the US economy into a deep recession.