Paulson, Bernanke testify, get grilled

From NBC's Wendy Jones Barney Frank 's House Financial Services Committee heard today from three panels of witnesses on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The economy's big guns were on the first panel: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson , Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair . As usual, Frank was irascible, but kept his members within their allotted five minutes. At the end of almost three hours, Bernanke assured the representatives that the "bailout" was "not a failure of capitalism...it's a problem of execution. Historically, in other countries, the failure of the financial system can bring down an otherwise strong economy. ...This is not an indictment of the broad market system." Frank's focus was on the surprising evolution of the bailout plan. "When the program was passed, very specific language was included for mortgage foreclosure diminution as one of the purposes of the bill,” Frank said, adding, “The fundamental policy issue is our ... (link)