Is Gordon Brown, Labour Prime Minister of the UK, the man of the hour? So says newly-minted Nobelist Paul Krugman. The major economic powers are quickly converging on direct bank recapitalization as the road to economic stabilization. And it's Brown's government that has moved most rapidly and most decisively in this direction.

Brown's action -- and what now appears to be a united Europe following his lead -- provides an unflattering contrast with the indecision and reactive response from Paulson.