“Why is $700,000,000,000 (looks bigger that way, doesn’t it?) the particular number that’s needed to restore investor confidence and fix the mess that investment banks and mortgage brokers have gotten us into? Good luck finding a convincing explanation. The number, to quote Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, needed to be ‘bold,’ big enough to ‘unclog the financial markets’ but not unduly spook legislators who have felt the wrath of Main Street. Why do we often find such numbers so convincing, even while recognizing, if only tacitly, how arbitrary they are?” [editor’s note: The real questions should be: (1) why do we let people get away with this kind of deception? and (2) why does this number NOT “unduly spook legislators” (the late Sen. Dirksen’s quote also comes to mind here) - SAT] (10/09/08)