Harvard Book Store welcomed Timothy F. Geithner, the seventy-fifth secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Harvard Kennedy School's David Gergen for a discussion of Secretary Geithner's first book, Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises. In Stress Test, Secretary Geithner provides an illuminating, candid, and definitive account of the unprecedented effort to save the U.S. economy from collapse in the wake of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. Drawing upon his unique perspective and experience, Geithner takes readers behind the scenes during the darkest moments of the crisis. Swift, decisive, and creative action was required to avert disaster, but policy makers faced a fog of uncertainty, with no good options and the risk of catastrophic outcomes. Stress Test explains in accessible and forthright terms the most controversial and politically unpalatable decisions of Geithner's tenures at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at the Treasury, including the harrowing weekend Lehman Brothers went bankrupt; the searing crucible of the AIG bonuses controversy; the development of his widely 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. Geithner also shares his personal and professional recollections of key players such as President Obama, Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, and Larry Summers, among others, and examines the tensions between politics and policy that have come to dominate discussions of the U.S. economy. In Stress Test, Geithner draws upon nearly three decades of public service to share lessons in the craft of crisis response to help guide policy makers and the public alike during future financial crises.
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