Bush & Paulson: Just making sh*t up

Hat tip to Chuck Schumer who asked a real question of Paulson earlier this week about why $700 billion, and why all the money now?  Why not $150 billion and come ask for more so we can see whether it is working?

Think Progress » Treasury explains how it came up with $700 billion: We just wanted ‘a really large number.’

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”