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Three topics will dominate Obama's press conference tonight.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--President Obama's to-do list for Tuesday night's press conference is daunting: sell his $3.6 trillion budget to the public, explain the public-private partnership he's proposed to save the banking system and convey that despite rising unemployment and a shaky stock market, he remains the man who can safely return America to prosperity.

Making things harder: the lingering furor over $165 million in bonuses paid to executives at American International Group (nyse: AIG - news - people ) and concern that his budget is $2.3 trillion further in the red than expected. He'll likely be peppered with questions about whether he would veto a bill to impose a 90% excise tax on some bonus income and how the administration plans to win over skeptical lawmakers if it needs to prop up the financial system with more bailout cash.

Want an example of what Obama's up against? Look no further than what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced at a House of Representatives committee hearing Tuesday.

Geithner and Bernanke went to the Hill with a basic message: The government needs to establish a regulatory mechanism to allow for the orderly unwinding of non-bank financial firms like AIG, should they fail.

Instead, they faced a barrage of questions from lawmakers: What constitutional right does the Treasury Department have to keep dumping taxpayer money into failed companies? What role has Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ), an AIG creditor, played in government bailouts? Should the issuance of credit default swaps be grounded until further notice? Who know what about AIG's bonuses and when?

The administration is keen to put in place part two of its response to the economic crisis: its budget and a new set of guidelines to revamp the regulation of the financial services industry. President Obama has conceded that "the specific details and dollar amounts in this budget will undoubtedly change." But he wants it to contain at least four elements: investment in clean energy, commitment to education, reform of health care policies and a reduction in the federal deficit.

As for a financial services overhaul, the administration wants to, in part, plug a hole in the current regulatory system by allowing the government to act as a "receiver" for all financial institutions, taking on a role similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in dealing with failed banks. This would allow Uncle Sam to sell a business' assets and liabilities and renegotiate contracts with employees and counterparties.

 

Tuesday night, also expect the president to talk about fiscal responsibility, stressing the market's 500-point gain Monday in reaction to Geithner's plan. He'll likely mention the need for broad fiscal stimulus worldwide, as he prepares to meet with leaders from other G-20 nations in London in less than two weeks.

But before he does any of these things, President Obama will first need to regain control of the dialogue.

Best Buy, like many other stores, has a public "price matching" policy. But HD Guru reports that according to internal docs, personnel are trained to deny price-matches and even paid bonuses for shutting them down.

This all comes out of a lawsuit that was just granted class action status. Internal documents, plus depositions from past and current Best Buy employees reveal just how evil Best Buy is. A price match is when, say, Circuit City advertised a Sharp HDTV for cheaper than Best Buy, Best Buy's public policy is to match that price.

But Best Buy actually trains employees in New York how to deny legitimate price match requests, and the average Best Buy store denies 100 price matches a week. You even get paid bonuses based on how many price matches you deny!

Here's how it works, according to Phil Britton, a member of Best Buy's Competitive Strategies Group:

What is the first thing we do when a customer comes in to our humble box brandishing a competitor's ad asking for a price match? We attempt to build a case against the price match. (Trust me, I've done it too). Let's walk through the "Refused Price Match Greatest Hits:

"Not same model? Not in stock at the competitor? Do we have free widget with purchase? Is it from a warehouse club (they have membership fees, you know)? Limited Quantities? That competitor is across town? We've got financing! Is it an internet price? It's below cost!….."

If you live in NY state, and you've been screwed by Best Buy's anti-price matching, HD Guru has further info on the attorney to contact so you can take a piece out of Best Buy. What a bunch of scum.

Update: Giz reader Jake reveals how they scam you on model numbers to avoid price matching:

Example: A few months ago my wife and I were looking at a Frigidaire Washer. The model we were interested was the ATF8000FS. At Best Buy, we found the washer there however it was displayed as the ATF8000FSL. At first I figured "Oh this must be some variation on the original model number, like how manufacturers sometimes add a letter to the end of the model to indicate the product color." Anyways, to make a long story short, this ATF8000FSL was not available from the manufacturer.

The "L" was added on by Best Buy in order for them to skirt around price matching. This is so no one can come to Best Buy and claim to have found a lower price of this product because no one else sells the product under the model number ATF8000FSL. It's ATF8000FS everywhere else. Best Buy will tell people that its simply a different product, so therefore, no price matching. Even on the manufacturer's sticker on the washer, it said ATF8000FS, as it was supposed to. Upon further investigation I could see that Best Buy's internal computers even listed the model as ATF8000FSL.

Gov. David Paterson says the loss of tax revenue from just six executives of Goldman Sachs will cost New York $178 million.

The executives complied with the urging of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and others who said in November that major Wall Street companies benefiting from federal bailouts shouldn't pay out the usual huge bonuses to executives.

Paterson says it is the right thing to do, but the result is a further hit to the fiscal crisis of state government.

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