Lesson 1 in how to get something done in Washington D.C. Scare people:

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Bad News For The Bailout – Forbes.com.