When Hank Paulson first went to Capitol Hill last month with hat in hand, he flat out rejected the "Japan model" of recapitalizing struggling banks with federal money. After his initial plan did NOTHING to help stabilize the economy -- indeed, things got much, much worse -- Paulson and the Bush administration finally caved and decided that nationalizing the banks wasn't such a bad idea. Fortunately for us, Jon Stewart was there to catch him in the act.
Stewart: So what are we gonna do to ease the credit crunch and get banks loaning money again? Well, last month Secretary Paulson made clear what we won't do.
Paulson: There are some that said we should just go and stick capital into the banks. That's what happened in Japan. But we said the right way to do this is not going around and using guarantees and injecting capital. That's the Japanese solution.
Stewart: We know the Japanese solution didn't even work. Their economy has been stagnant for fifteen years, there's no way we're ever gonna be so desperate to try that...
ABC News Report: Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson plans to inject money directly into banks that need it...
