From the former Treasury Secretary, the definitive account of the unprecedented
effort to save the US economy from collapse in the wake of the worst global fina
ncial crisis since the Great Depression. On 26 January, 2009, during the depths
of the financial crisis and having just completed five years as President of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy F Geithner was sworn in by President
Barack Obama as the seventy-fifth Secretary of the Treasury of the United States
. Now, in a strikingly candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, G
eithner takes readers behind the scenes during the darkest moments of the crisis
.
Swift, decisive, and creative action was required to avert a second Great D
epression, but policy makers faced a fog of uncertainty, with no good options an
d the risk of catastrophic outcomes. Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crise
s takes us inside the room, explaining in accessible and forthright terms the ha
rd choices and politically unpalatable decisions that Geithner and others in the
Obama administration made during the crisis and recovery. He discusses the most
controversial moments of his tenures at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York an
d at the Treasury, including the harrowing weekend Lehman Brothers went bankrupt
; the searing crucible of the AIG bonuses controversy; the development of his wi
dely criticized but ultimately successful plan in early 2009 to end the crisis;
the bracing fight for the most sweeping financial reforms in seventy years; and
the lingering aftershocks of the crisis, including high unemployment, the fiscal
battles, and Europe's repeated flirtations with the economic abyss.
