Thursday, March 28, 2019

NEW BOOK From Bernanke, Geithner and Paulson

I always enjoy a little twist and turn fiction reading in the Spring. It's here.

Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons is scheduled to be released April 16.

From the blurb:

From the three primary architects of the American policy response to the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression, a magnificent big-picture synthesis--from why it happened to where we are now.

In 2018, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and Hank Paulson came together to reflect on the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis ten years on. Recognizing that, as Ben put it, "the enemy is forgetting," they examine the causes of the crisis, why it was so damaging, and what it ultimately took to prevent a second Great Depression. And they provide to their successors in the United States and the finance ministers and central bank governors of other countries a valuable playbook for reducing the damage from future financial crises. Firefighting provides a candid and powerful account of the choices they and their teams made during the crisis, working under two presidents and with the leaders of Congress.
Interestingly, a Warren Buffett quote pumping the book appears on the front cover:
“I'm glad I didn't have to do the job that these three ‘fire chiefs’ did. I learned much from this book I had not previously known. Its cautions for the future should be required reading for all policy makers.”
It should be noted that he bought $5 billion in Goldman Sachs stock during the height of the financial crisis and then, magically, Bernanke, Geithner and Paulson just over 24 hours later announced a bailout of Wall Street that immediately made Buffett's Goldman position profitable. Lucky guy that Warren. I can see why he is pumping their book.

-RW



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