Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves

by Andrew Ross Sorkin

While the toxic-asset program made sense in theory, for it actually to work, for it to be effective, Paulson knew they’d need to buy large swaths of toxic securities from the nation’s largest banks. The cost was going to be enormous, and it would be perceived, both within and outside of the Washington Beltway, as another bailout.