Putting $700bn of taxpayers’ money at risk buying toxic assets from reckless banks is a difficult enough sell to Congress and the US public. Paying over the odds for them might prove to be more noxious than the assets themselves.

So, following his suggestions on Tuesday that the government would pay more than the “fire-sale” price such assets could fetch on today’s open market, Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, was quick to say yesterday that he had been misunderstood.