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Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic
Crown
August 2009
On Sale: August 4, 2009
336 pages ISBN: 0307459683 EAN: 9780307459688 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Political
That was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s vow as the
worst financial panic in more than fifty years gripped the
world and he struggled to avoid the once unthinkable: a
repeat of the Great Depression. Brilliant but
temperamentally cautious, Bernanke researched and wrote
about the causes of the Depression during his career as an
academic. Then when thrust into a role as one of the most
important people in the world, he was compelled to boldness
by circumstances he never anticipated. The president of the United States can respond instantly to
a missile attack with America’s military might, but he
cannot respond to a financial crisis with real money unless
Congress acts. The Fed chairman can. Bernanke did. Under his
leadership the Fed spearheaded the biggest government
intervention in more than half a century and effectively
became the fourth branch of government, with no direct
accountability to the nation’s voters. Believing that the economic catastrophe of the 1930s was
largely the fault of a sluggish and wrongheaded Federal
Reserve, Bernanke was determined not to repeat that epic
mistake. In this penetrating look inside the most powerful
economic institution in the world, David Wessel illuminates
its opaque and undemocratic inner workings, while revealing
how the Bernanke Fed led the desperate effort to prevent the
world’s financial engine from grinding to a halt. In piecing together the fullest, most authoritative, and
alarming picture yet of this decisive moment in our nation’s
history, In Fed We Trust answers the most critical
questions. Among them: • What did Bernanke and his team at the Fed know–and what
took them by surprise? Which of their actions stretched–or
even ripped through–the Fed’s legal authority? Which
chilling numbers and indicators made them feel they had no
choice? • What were they thinking at pivotal moments during the race
to sell Bear Stearns, the unsuccessful quest to save Lehman
Brothers, and the virtual nationalization of AIG, Fannie
Mae, and Freddie Mac? What were they saying to one another
when, as Bernanke put it to Wessel: “We came very close to
Depression 2.0”? • How well did Bernanke, former treasury secretary Hank
Paulson, and then New York Fed president Tim Geithner
perform under intense pressure? • How did the crisis prompt a reappraisal of the
once-impregnable reputation of Alan Greenspan? In Fed We Trust is a breathtaking and singularly perceptive
look at a historic episode in American and global economic
history.
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