Three Men and a Bailout

In the new dead-tree TIME, Massimo Calabresi and I have this story about Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner. It is a look at the three men who have been holding the financial system together, and the reason they engineered a bailout.

That bailout, of course, is in limbo today, after yesterday's White House talks blew up. One alternative to keep an eye on is a proposal that has been put together by a group of House Republicans led by Virginia''s Eric Cantor. It would attempt to accomplish the same goal as the Paulson bailout, but by having the government insure, rather than purchase, all these bad assets that are sitting on the books of major financial firms.