USA Today seems to have contracted a disease that is usually fatal in the news business: complete loss of institutional memory. At least when it comes to the history of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson‘s totally inconsistent remarks about the current turmoil in the financial sector of the economy (whose fundamentals, of course, remain — please sing it with me now — as sound as ever).

The Bush administration will “do what its takes” to stabilize chaotic markets and minimize economic damage, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday after a tumultuous week capped by the government rescue of a teetering investment bank.
[...]
Paulson, in a series of news show appearances, defended the Federal Reserve’s extraordinary step Friday to provide emergency financing to one of Wall Street’s most venerable firms, Bear Stearns. The central bank’s intervention was “the right decision,” he said.

The treasury chief sidestepped questions about what would have happened if the Fed had not ridden to the rescue, about whether other firms are on shaky ground and the possibility of additional bailouts similar to Bear Stearns’.

At the same time, however, Paulson sought to send a calming message that the administration is on top of the turbulent situation. “The government is prepared to do what it takes to maintain the stability of our financial system,” he said. “That’s our priority.”

USA Today did report what are, for Hank “Just Deny Everything” Paulson, some extraordinary admissions:

“No one is debating the fact that this economy has slowed way down,” Paulson said. “We feel it, we know it, the American people know it.”
[...]
The financial system, he said, is “more fragile than we would like right now.”

Unfortunately, if old Hank explained exactly how fragile they would like the financial system to be right now, USA Today chose not to tell us.

But coming back to my original point — terminal loss of institutional memory — USA Today told us with a straight face that Hank said this with a straight face:

From the beginning I have said, as we work through this period, if this was like other times in the past, there are going to be bumps in the road. There are going to be unpleasant surprises. You are going to find that an institution or so has problems.”

Funny, but that’s not the way Matt remembered it on Friday, when by some amazing feats of memory he dredged up Paulson’s words from February:

Following the U.K.’s surprise move to nationalize mortgage lender Northern Rock, will the U.S. need to make similar moves?

“Absolutely not,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told CNBC, dismissing talk that the Bush administration needs to initiate a widespread bailout program to assist the financial industry and restore investor confidence.

It is, of course, always possible that Paulson’s “beginning” began after he had said this?

Incidentally, wouldn’t it be simply marvelous if there was some magical way for anyone — including journalists and editors — to look up the past statements of public figures on given topics? Just think: such a development could revolutionize the way reporters report news!

*** Update, 7:24 am ***

The NYT provides additional perspective on Paulson’s pronouncements:

Hoping to avoid a systemic meltdown in financial markets, the Federal Reserve on Sunday approved a $30 billion credit line to engineer the takeover of Bear Stearns and announced an open-ended lending program for the biggest investment firms on Wall Street.
[...]
The moves amounted to a sweeping and apparently unprecedented attempt by the Federal Reserve to rescue the nation’s financial markets from what officials feared could be a chain reaction of defaults.

A systemic meltdown in financial markets? A chain reaction of defaults? Ain’t never going to happen, ladies and gentlemen. Absolutely not! Because Hank told us so, that’s why.

And now Hank has said:

“Well, our financial institutions, our banks and investments banks are very strong,” he said. “And I’m convinced that they’re going to come out of this situation very strong.”

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen, just roll right up and place your bets.