Bernanke, Paulson are government officials, what else can

they do and say? Remember economy is a self enforced game, that is why we need a government to fight against it. It is like violence, if somebody is using violence in a society, everybody will start to use it pretty soon if there is no government.

The new Nobel prize winner on economy (forgot his name) predicted a bad economy downturn. Not all economists are/were saying the same thing, my friend.

As for current economy situation, yeh, it is bad, it does not mean those doomsayers a couple of months ago is absolutely right, economy is not a science, if we go back and do it one more time, it is more than likely to have a different trajectory. You are just having the benefit of hindsight.