Power Point: Make history now

"Rather than trying to revise history afterward, I'm going to make it and get something done. It may not be perfect."

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, from Marc Guther's cover story, Paulson to the Rescue, in the current issue of Fortune. Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS), helped broker a deal for JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to acquire Bear Stearns in March and orchestrated the bailout of Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM) last week. Now the government is lending up to $85 billion to American International Group (AIG) to prevent its collapse, after refusing to rescue Lehman Brothers (LEH) earlier this week.