So, let’s see if we can sum this week’s drama:

   Over the past weekend, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says, basically, nothing to worry about, we’ve got this financial crisis under control now that we–the taxpayers–own Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

   Opppsss…then comes Monday. Paulson says, eh, don’t worry everything is okay even though Merrill Lynch was headed for a sale and Lehman Brothers was headed for the auction bloc and the markets all over the world were in a freefall.

   Opppsss…then, comes Tuesday. After the Dow dropped more than 500 points and panic was everywhere, Paulson says to us, don’t worry, the worst part of the housing market crisis is probably behind us, or maybe a few months away.

   Opppsss…then comes Wednesday and good ‘ole Hank has to dip into the Federal Treasury again for a cool $85 billion to make sure AIG doesn’t go belly up and ignite an entire cratering of an already-tottering financial market. At least news reports indicated that Hank was a bit grim-looking but everyone was still trying to reassure us.

   Opppsss…Thursday rolls around and, guess what, you and I–and the rest of the taxpayer world–are going to pick up hundreds of billions of dollars in bad debt, thanks to:

The federal government is working on a sweeping series of programs that would represent perhaps the biggest intervention in financial markets since the 1930s, embracing the need for a comprehensive approach to the financial crisis after a series of ad hoc rescues. At the center of the potential plan is a mechanism that would take bad assets off the balance sheets of financial companies, said people familiar with the matter, a device that echoes similar moves taken in past financial crises. The size of the entity could reach hundreds of billions of dollars, one person said.

   And, just now, Paulson has confirmed the deal, without many specifics…

  So, the questions will be:

   1. What is this going to cost us?

   2. Since many of the very people who made this crisis happen made off with billions of dollars over time in compensation, shouldn’t this tab be paid for by a tax hike on the wealthiest Americans?

   3. What assurances will the public get that we are now going to clean house? The CEOs and managers and their ilk should be permanently barred from having a hand in this business.