In his daily blog at www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm George Ure said it so well it bears repeating here:

"your regular monthly mortgage payments were not enough for the Banksters: They took your payments and turned them into a floating craps game - and now that they have mostly all lost, they're expecting to put the craps game costs onto your shoulders.

There's a certain desperation in the Paulson/Bernanke plea that isn't yet explained.