"We Just Wanted to Pick a Really Large Number"

So, how did the braintrust at Treasury come up with the $700 billion dollar figure needed for the bailout bill? Surely there was a great deal of analysis and study that led to that number.

Nope:

The more Congress examines the Bush administration’s bailout plan, the hazier its outcome gets. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle complained of being rushed to pass legislation or else risk financial meltdown.

“The secretary and the administration need to know that what they have sent to us is not acceptable,” says Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn. The committee’s top Republican, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, says he’s concerned about its cost and whether it will even work.

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

I think somebody at Treasury was watching those T. Boone Pickens ads, heard him say $700 billion and thought "hey, that's a really big number - let's use that one!"