They are shrewd survivors - onetime federal bureaucrats who oversaw the savings-and-loan bailout under then-President George H.W. Bush. Now, almost 20 years later, they are working for the other side, advising banks and private investors who are seeking to profit from the latest and greatest government bailout.

The vultures are already circling. Rudy Giuliani is positioning his international law firm to get a stake in the proposed $700-billion bailout of Wall Street.