Treasury Testimony Baffles the Nation

In Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, he directly contradicted his “simple proposal”:

Secretary's Testimony Before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday:
“We gave you a simple, three-page legislative outline and I thought it would have been presumptuous for us on that outline to come up with an oversight mechanism.”

Secretary Paulson, Again in Yesterday's Testimony:
“If any of you [Senate Banking Committee members] felt that I didn’t believe that we needed oversight, I believe we need oversight. We need protection. We need transparency. I want it. We all want it.”

BUT:
Secretary Paulson’s Text of the Three-page Bailout Bill Presented on Friday, Just Four Days Earlier:

“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency...”

No Wonder So Many Americans Are Confused. What do we make of such contradictory statements? We don't like to believe that people lie, and yet such contradictory statements as Secretary Paulson made within a few days of each other represent either:

Lies or Senility or Merely Incompetence

How Can This Man Be Trusted? Whether the Secretary is senile or dishonest or merely incompetent, the contents of the United States Treasury should not be put at his disposal. We must not place our trust in this self-discrediting man.

Better Thinking Must Prevail. In terms of additional "bailouts" or other solutions to the current economic crisis, clearer thinking and more-responsible options must be examined—by more creditable people—and then pursued.

Congress Must Not Rushed Into Foolhardiness Yet Another Time.

As President Bush Himself Once Put It So Well, “Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice.....and you won't fool me again.”