can somebody decipher paulson's speech for me?

because to me, it seems like he just said, "we lied to congress about what the bailout money was going to be used for- we're giving it all to the banks."

then some reporter called him on it, and he said "the situation and facts changed."

what? in 3 weeks everything changed?

somebody please tell me i just didn't hear this.

You heard it right.

That's what he said.

I'm a little too angry now to expound on it, but you can find more info starting on pg 2 of this thread.

The government financiers made the mistake of not stressing that they would attempt to troubleshoot the situation as it develops; they sounded as if they had the final remedy. Anyone with a bit of realism up in the penthouse knew that changes to the original plan would very likely follow and they did.

There is a chance that some of the changes could have been poorly conceived and would turn out to be mistakes that would erode the whole financial situation further.

The easiest solution would have been not to mess with things at all. Let the market crash and put some 25% people out of work for a while, like two years or so. With the bad boys of banking no longer in business by then, you would have a pretty clear view of what to do next.

I think it can be summed up in one sentence:

"You've been hoodwinked baby!"