Created on Saturday, 05 September 2009 02:13

In Breaking the Bank, Frontline producer Michael Kirk (Inside the Meltdown, Bush's War) draws on a rare combination of high-profile interviews with key players Ken Lewis and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain to reveal the story of two banks at the heart of the financial crisis, the rocky merger and the government's new role in taking over — some call it "nationalizing" — the American banking system.

It all began on that fateful weekend in September 2008 when the American economy was on the verge of melting down. Then-Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, his former protégé John Thain and Ken Lewis, one of the most powerful bankers in the country, secretly cut a deal to merge Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.

"This is more than a story about just one man or one bank," says producer Michael Kirk. "This is the story of the most important change in the relationship between government and private business in a generation."

Watch the Full Program Online: BREAKING THE BANK