Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons
by Ben S. Bernanke (Author), Timothy F. Geithner  (Author), Henry M. Paulson Jr. (Author)

About the Author
Ben Bernanke, currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, was the chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. Timothy F. Geithner is currently President of Warburg Pincus and was the 75th Secretary of the Treasury for President Obama's first term. He is the author of Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises. Hank Paulson is the founder and chairman of the Paulson Institute, and served as the 74th Secretary of the Treasury under President Bush. He is the author of On the Brink and Dealing with China.

About this book
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.

Brief contents
Introduction
Chapter One: Dry Tinder: The Roots of the Crisis
    The Confidence Game
    The Source of the Spark
    Kindling
    It’s Hard to Fix Something Before It Breaks
    Missing the Spark
Chapter Two: The First Flames: August 2007–March 2008
    The Bagehot Playbook
    Beyond Bagehot
Chapter Three: The Fire Spreads: March 2008–September 2008
    Bear Stearns: Too Interconnected to Fail
    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Firing the Bazooka
Chapter Four: The Inferno: September 2008–October 2008
    Lehman Brothers: Circling the Drain
    AIG: Free Market Day
    The End of an Era
Chapter Five: Dousing the Fire: October 2008–May 2009
    Deploying Tarp
    Endgame
    Conclusion: The Fire Next Time
    Stronger Defenses
    Weaker Emergency Arsenal
    What Is to Be Done?
Acknowledgments
Charting the Financial Crisis: U.S. Strategy and Outcomes
    Introduction
    Acronyms
    Antecedents of the Crisis
    The Arc of the Crisis
    The U.S. Strategy
    Outcomes
    Acknowledgments
    Notes
Index

Pages: 240
Publisher: Penguin Books (April 16, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143134485
ISBN-13: 978-0143134480