Breaking the Bank

FRONTLINE tells the inside story of the rocky merger of two banks at the heart of the financial crisis -- Bank of America and Merrill Lynch -- and the government's new role in taking over the American banking system in "Breaking the Bank," airing Tuesday, June 16, at 9 pm on PBS (check local listings). In this podcast, FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk takes listeners behind closed doors to the unprecedented moment when, in an attempt to save the financial system, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson forces nine major banks to accept $125 billion in government funding. Also, former International Monetary Fund economist Simon Johnson talks about the fallout of this move towards "nationalization," the challenges ahead for the Obama administration and what America can learn from other large countries.