Hank Paulson, like most Republicans, has railed against 'big government'. Yet today in the face of economic contagion stemming from a disintegrating housing sector, volatile financial markets and frozen credit, skyrocketing energy and food prices, widening job losses, and a precipitous fall in the dollar he is proposing a massive infusion of government capital and substantive re-regulation. He's getting bipartisan support. What began as the end of 'big government' in the 1970's is now ending at the hands of Paulson and Bernanke. It took a pretty big economic mess to do it. More details here.