What's all the fuss about?

Paulson and Bernanke are of one mind that they need $700 bln NOW. Like they'll be positioned to use it once they've got it. Dodd and the rest of the Main St. advocates hem and haw and burnish their populist credentials (Christopher Dodd? Trying to cleanse himself from the perceived taint of Arthur Anderson and Enron?) while providing some reasonable due diligence.

But we know we're gonna give Hank'n'Ben something, and it won't be less than $450-500 bln. Why not $150-200 bln up front to get RTC2 up and running while the rest of the package gets hammered out?