Real estate and green technologies remain front and center this week in U.S. economic news.

On the crisis containment front, the U.S. government has mounted a $326 billion rescue of Citigroup, including a fresh $20 billion cash injection and the guarantee of up to $306 billion in troubled mortgage-backed securities. In return, the taxpayers receive $7 billion in Citigroup preferred stock at an 8 percent dividend. Here's the term sheet for the Citigroup rescue. One refinement from previous bailouts: Citigroup must suspend dividend payouts and restrict executive compensation absent federal approval.

In economic stimulus news, green strategies remain front and center. In a November 22 radio address and in a November 24 news conference introducing his economic team, president-elect Barack Obama sketched the outline of an Economic Recovery Plan aimed at creating 2.5 million U.S. jobs by January 2011. Details of the plan are still being worked out, but the plan seeks to highlight infrastructure repair, school modernization and green technologies, including the building of wind farms and solar panels and the development of fuel-efficient cars and alternative energy technologies.

Said Obama, “These aren't just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis; these are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long.” Some have estimated that the plan would cost $500 to $700 billion.  Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader for the House Democrats, has pledged that Congress will complete an economic stimulus package by “the first couple of weeks of January.”