Who wins, who loses under proposed bailout plan?

The $700 billion financial industry rescue plan creates a lot of potential short-term winners, as well as some losers.

Wall Street and the banking industry are perhaps the biggest winners. They can start making loans again because the Treasury Department will start buying up their troubled mortgage-related securities.

If the bailout works as intended, there will be other winners, too: anyone trying to borrow money for cars or student loans, or even to open new credit-card accounts.

But top executives at troubled financial institutions are in the losing column because the proposal limits how much they can be paid and essentially rules out so-called "golden parachutes" when they leave.

Investors, including the millions of people who have 401(k) and pension plans, should benefit. Failure to reach a deal could have sent global stock markets tumbling.

But there's little help for homeowners faced with foreclosure or those who've lost their homes. And the plan won't help people whose houses are worth less than what they owe refinance or get an equity loan.