• Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post , Thursday, November 13, 2008 11 AM

It's probably worth noting here that Henry Paulson reversed course yesterday, declaring that toxic debt -- which has been repackaged by politicians as "troubled assets," as in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- would no longer be the primary target of the $700 billion bailout package. The Journal reports that although the feds will "continue flooding financial institutions with cash" to shore up the disaster wrought by bad loans, it will primarily try to unfreeze the credit market by increasing the availability of student loans, auto loans and credit cards.

An analysis by Michael A. Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times points out, in its headline, that "Paulson's toxic-loan plan never got started." Hiltzik writes: "A week after the package was passed by Congress on Oct. 3, Paulson began signaling that the thrust had changed and that much of the $700 billion instead would go toward providing capital to banks by investing in their preferred shares."

The Washington Post 's headline take on the situation is "Treasury Redefines Its Rescue Program," proving, if nothing else, that words matter.

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