Bernanke defends US bailout

Ben Bernanke, the boss of the US central bank, has defended the US bail-out plan citing his fears of a second Great Depression, during a public talk.



Mr. Bernanke says helping finance firms as part of the $700 billion stimulus plan benefited the wider economy.



He says more regulation is needed so no firm was too big to fail.



The central bank in conjunction with the US Treasury, organised the bank bail-out plan last October, and has since spent about US$3 trillion to boost the credit markets and mitigate the downturn.



However, the government\'s intervention in rescuing and providing state aid, for insurance giant AIG among others, has come under criticism from those who say no firm should be too large to fail.