"Bernanke, Paulson misled public on bailouts"

Was this worse than the Fed and Treasury lying to Bank of America about how much trouble that Merrill Lynch was in? After all, if B of A wasn't forced to merge with Merrill Lynch, B of A wouldn't have been in that much trouble to begin with. From the Washington Times:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. misled the public about the financial weakness of Bank of America and other early recipients of the government's $700 billion Wall Street bailout, creating "unrealistic expectations" about the companies and damaging the program's credibility, according to a report by the program's independent watchdog.

The federal government last October loaned Bank of America and eight other "healthy" financial institutions a total of $125 billion - the initial payout from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP - in an attempt to avoid a series of major bank collapses that would push the sputtering economy into a free fall or depression. . . . .