Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

'Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain' from the Wizard of Oz. Sounds like Hank Paulson. And looks like the players of the player automaker trio got played by the player Bush. Only Ford CEO decided to bow out of asking for a bailout from Bush. Treasury Hank the wank has changed the rules for the automaker bailout.

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clarifying its financial aid program for the domestic auto industry, the U.S. Treasury on Wednesday said it may invest in any automotive company debt, equity or warrants that it determines to be "troubled assets."

The Treasury said guidelines for its Automotive Industry Financing Program will apply to Detroit automakers, auto finance companies and any other firms it views as important to the industry.

The guidelines offer a more formal structure to a $17.4 billion bailout plan for General Motors Corp (GM.N) and Chrysler LLC that the Bush administration rushed into effect on December 19 after another rescue effort died in Congress. This was later supplemented by $6 billion in aid for finance company GMAC LLC.

And Treasury releases answers to Congressional Panel about the bailout money:

Treasury Releases Responses to Congressional Oversight Panel

Washington, DC – The Treasury Department today released responses to questions posed in the Congressional Oversight Panel's first report on implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

REPORTS: Responses (pdf)

Read more on Treasury website for Dec. 31, 2008.