Capitol Hill's abuzz this morning with hints that the Senate is nearing a major deal on "sweeping" health legislation. Actually, it's a deal being worked out by only a bipartisan handful of solons who call themselves the "Group of Six." (You can call them the "Baucus Caucus," if you want, because Montana Democrat Max Baucus, the Senate Finance chair, hosts the conspirators.)

What they're working on is a far cry from what Barack Obama was talking about on the campaign trail. It's a deal that wouldn't require large businesses to offer coverage to their workers and wouldn't include a government insurance option. More on these "centrist" senators here.

That may matter to you, but not to people like Daniel Suelo, a guy who lives in a cave near Moab, Utah. In "COULD YOU SURVIVE WITHOUT MONEY? MEET THE GUY WHO DOES," Christopher Ketcham profiles him in Details. Best line: In describing Suelo's cave, Ketcham writes, "Suelo's been here for three years, and it smells like it."

The Senate's health-care deal may also smell, but that may fade. Congress is simply trying to get something preliminarily accomplished before its August vacation. Pretty clear that Congress won't settle things before its members flee.

One major money deal is already done: Bank of America (the biggest bank, and the one with the most branches) is revving up the chainsaws to lop off 10 percent of those 6,100 branch banks. Not that people really need so many branches with online and mobile banking so available.

This is the kind of pruning that would happen even if we weren't in a recession. No big deal. Bigger news looms this week, as more earnings reports pour in. Stock futures are down before the opening bell in dread of some of those figures.

Sexier items may or may not emerge from this week's hearings from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. And sometime next month, the CFTC will officially release a major report on price shenanigans. It seems that suspicions are confirmed that speculators — not just supply and demand — drove the wild swings in oil prices.

Other stuff:

"U.S. Effort to Modify Mortgages Falters" (WSJ)

"CONGRESS DEBATES ONUS FOR GOLDMAN BONUS" (NY Post)

"'Clunker' Rebates Stir Car Buyers" (WSJ)

"JAILHOUSE CROCK: ACCUSED SCAMMER STANFORD WHINES ABOUT CELL" (NY Post)

"Foreclosures Are Often In Lenders' Best Interest: Numbers Work Against Government Efforts To Help Homeowners" (WashPost)

"Cost of treating obese patients soars to $147 billion" (USA Today)