Tea Bird

$700 billion amount was just made up

Forbes’ Wingfield and Zumbrun bring us this scoop on how Paulson and Bernanke got the $700 billion figure:

“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.”

It is, to borrow from my daughter, just another way to say “exillion” dollars.

Paulson, Senate Dems reach tentative bailout deal

From The Hill:

Senate Democrats emerged from a meeting Wednesday with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to report a general, conceptual — but fragile — agreement on a $700 billion plan to rescue the U.S. financial markets. 
Senators said Paulson and the Democrats struck very tentative deals on Democratic demands on oversight and transparency, executive pay limits, [...]

Krugman wonders why only yesterday the Paulson Plan was about price discovery

He found that it was only yesterday that this bailout plan used the price discovery logic, and he asks what that means:

One possible explanation. It wasn’t until yesterday that they realized that it would actually be necessary to explain themselves.
But there’s another possible explanation, which I find terrifyingly plausible: the plan came first, and [...]

Claiming Credit for a Done Deal

According to Talking Points Memo, this is nearly a done deal.

The deal on the “bail out” is 98% done. Treasury has capitulated on almost every point. A draft is circulating on the Hill now. No one needs McCain to help do the remaining 2%….except the White House who has no standing [...]

Obama Believes in Multitasking Leadership

Obama wants the debate to go on as scheduled. He said:

this is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible with dealing with this mess.
What I’ve told the leadership in Congress is that if I can be helpful then I am prepared [...]

Obama and McCain Were Discussing Bailout Bipartisanship Yesterday

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell is reporting that

Obama campaign strategist Robert Gibbs said, Obama initiated contact at 8:30 this morning after discussing it on the flight to Tampa yesterday afternoon and again last night. They discussed a joint statement of shared principles on the bailout package — to help move it along toward consensus on the [...]

McCain Campaign Suspension Continued

From the McCain campaign traveling press pool report:
McCain Senior Adviser Mark Salter briefed reporters just now off camera on the decision. He told us the following:
–McCain will suspend airing all ads and all campaign events pending an Obama agreement.
–McCain talked to Republican colleagues on the Hill during the past two days and learned that passage [...]