Experts offer alternatives to bailout approach

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on the Turmoil in the U.S. Credit Market on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

To hear Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Ben S. Bernanke tell it, there is only one plan to save the economy -- use $700 billion in taxpayer money to take the worst of Wall Street's assets off its books. But leading economists and financial thinkers argue that there are a host of alternatives that would reduce taxpayers' liabilities and perhaps more effectively address the urgent crisis in financial markets.