Bush Defends 2008 Bank Bailout

More than two years later, George W. Bush is still on the defensive about his authorization of TARP, the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street at height of the nation’s economic crisis. “I wasn’t a very good economic prognosticator. I did know we were in deep trouble. And that’s why I made the decision,” he said Sunday night in an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley. Citing his trust of financial advisers Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke, Bush said his temporary abandonment of free-market principles was hopefully a “once-in-a-lifetime situation.” He also warned against reading the crisis as a call for more regulation, saying, “you’ve got to be careful, Candy, not to over-regulate, because if you try to over-regulate, then investment’s not going to flow.’