Why?

Maybe this has been beat to death but I wasn't here to see it. Why did the Bush Administration simultaneously promise to pour money into the banking system and talk down the economy? I suppose destroying the economy is a good way to prevent the next administration from doing anything like nationalizing health care but they're nationalizing banking to do it. I've lost the ball on this one.:headshake

They've got a very hard balancing act to accomplish. They have to "prime the pump" -- ie. get liquidity back into the credit markets whilst simultaneously keeping public panic at a minimum to prevent a run on the banks.

That's why they seem to be speaking out of both sides of their mouths. Well, more so than usual.

To me it sounded like they were promoting panic and priming the pump.