large quantity of 1964 pennies in their sealed Federal Reserve bags, apparently as a speculation because of a coin shortage. When this turned out to be unrewarding, he decided to "return them to the banks." Before doing so, he asked his children to examine the bags to see if there were any errors in the coins, and they found multi-struck coins. The trial judge described this story as "incredible," and no more plausible explanation was offered by the defense at trial. Even if appellants had initially believed in the authenticity of the coins, however obtained, subsequent events could not have failed to raise serious doubts in their minds. Not only was the validity of the coins as mint errors hotly debated in coin collecting circles, but in Junefor more money, but stressed that the Treasury may have to "act flexibly" if the problems in the economy and the financial sector deepen.

While officials will have to spend huge sums upfront to show the market that they won't let important institutions fail, Johnson said taxpayers won't have to end up on the hook for the entire amount of money that's being injected into banks.

Johnson said the government could get warrants in banks receiving assistance that would convert to common shares once the government sells them. He also said the government could hire private equity managers to oversee the assets the government takes on -- and sell them when the time is right.

These arrangements, he said, should allow the Treasury to extract some gains for taxpayers when the