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In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic |  | Author: David Wessel
Publisher: Crown Business
List Price: $26.99
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Seller: academiaboooks
Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 1684
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.5
ISBN: 0307459683
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.110973
EAN: 9780307459688
ASIN: 0307459683
Publication Date: August 4, 2009
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Product Description
“Whatever it takes”
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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Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
 pretty much unreadable November 19, 2009
tqwert1 (New York)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't understand the target audience for this book. Why is an editor at the Wall Street Journal apparently writing for people who have never read a newspaper, never heard of the Fed, never had any investments? And when he insists on dumbing everything down as far as possible, how does he still frequently get basic finance and economics concepts so wrong (for example, he keeps referring to "tri-party repo" even though it quickly becomes clear he has no idea what the term means)? The writing style here is just awful too. What can be said about a writer who thinks he's clever by repeatedly referring to a group of major players as "The Four Musketeers." My middle school English teacher would have failed me if I submitted a paper that kept repeating such a ridiculous cliche. And he seems determined to get credit for naming this recession "The Great Panic," so he repeats the term on almost every page, even though the name is just silly for this recession, and as a result, of course, it hasn't caught on with anyone besides David Wessel.
 Spectacular! PERIOD!!! November 11, 2009
William Dahl (Redmond, OR)
Spectacular! PERIOD!
Perhaps the best non-fiction financial thriller for 2009 from the mind of David Wessel, the Economics Editor of the Wall Street Journal. The essence of the book is captured in the following quote from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke:
"The only case for an independent central bank in a democracy is that it can take a longer view and do what is in the interest of the people in ways that elected politicians cannot." P. 271
Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner and Summers - Where did these guys come from? How do they think? How do/did (Paulson) they work with one another when faced with the most unimaginable economic crisis since the Great Depression? It's all here.
Why? Why did the U.S. and the global economy fall into this crater. Why? Why has the Federal Reserve, The U.S. Treasury and the White House Economic Advisory team implemented the measures they have - thus far?
The manner in which this work evolves makes is a contribution that can be devoured by a broad audience. It is absolutely essential reading for U.S. citizens who yearn for a vastly more informed perspective on the questions posed above.
Spectacular! PERIOD!
Excellent examination of the Fed during the Great Panic November 1, 2009
Scott (Atlanta, GA USA)
Having watch the Great Panic (as Wessel calls it) as it unfolded and hearing all the business TV talk that went along with it, I've been waiting to read all the inevitable books that I knew would be coming out. This is the first one I picked because of the power and influence the Fed possesses. After reading this, I realize that very few people really knew how much power the Fed actually does, thankfully, possess. And while I knew already that what I see on TV isn't necessarily representative of what is going on behind closed doors, this book just helped cement that knowledge.
If you are looking for an overall examination of the crisis and it's players, this isn't the book for you. There probably won't be a book for you because this crisis involved multiple players in both the private, public, and quasi-public sectors that an overall book end up being thousands of pages long.
What this book does do is give an excellent examination of one the major institutions involved in the crises, how the people there dealt with what they saw and thought was happening, and how inadequate those assessments were. You get a blow by blow of the behind the scenes conversations, debates and theories on how the Fed should react. You see the major players - Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, and Warsh - and how the interact with each other and the public. Wessel also gives some details on how the other Fed Presidents and Governor's reacted to what Big Big and his compatriots were doing.
Wessel also gives some history into the Fed such as why it was formed, what powers it has been given and taken away over the years, and exactly how the Fed completely screwed up in 1929.
I highly recommend this book. If you know alot about the Fed you'll get to see it in action from a behind-the-scenes point of view. If you don't know alot about the Fed, you'll get a great education into this institution and just how important it is to the US economy.
Behind closed doors November 1, 2009
L. Dianne Mahr (Orange County, Ca)
Excellent book relaying what when on in the background while attempting to alter this financial crisis. I highly recommend this book.
 In Ben We Trust October 27, 2009
Charles de Trenck (Hong Kong)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bernanke is the hero of this story. It reads well and with a lot of quotes/paraphrases peppered throughout. This is a book about the personalities - usually government side - of the crisis and how Bernanke played the lead and central role. In a sense it is a complement to the more focused accounts such as the New Yorker piece 21 September 2009, Eight Days, or the October 2009 piece from Esquire, The Deal of the Century. Even Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone updates can also be added into the mix to even the scales (good core comments even if sensational). And for historical perspective, despite being a little slow, Martin Meyer's The Fed is a good supplement.
If this is a fast, easy and enjoyable read, it is also one-sided in how it recreates many key events, often taking the side of the officials dealing with the blow-ups, and not showing much of what was going on over at the corporates. This is a book about key personalities and brings together great quotes and chronologies around meetings. It is not about the institutions. Something is missing on the institutions, if this is going to be a balanced account.
Yet also what it does not do with many of the personalities is find too many faults with other than the fall guy for everyone... If Paulson is shown up for his investment banker, short attention span mentality, then the Geithners of the story are left to be seen crisis solving without showing how some of their original Grand Canyon size oversights allowed the mess to balloon in the first place.
***
I did enjoy reading the book, though, following my disappointment reading Ben Bernanke's Fed: The Federal Reserve After Greenspan...And my other recent disappointments going back to Greenspan's biography, as well so many other Fed category books.
The book does achieve a lot, despite the drawbacks. David Wessel has done a good job weaving the key government side characters (and there notably at least 2-3 of the four musketeers, Bernanke, Geithner, Warsh and Kohn). Greenspan is discussed just enough (ie, not too much to waste our time re-hashing old material).
But I will fault the writer for key omissions - even if he was focusing on doing a good job on the core personalities for the book. There is just about nothing on Goldman...There are a few small case studies such as on Citi's failed attempt to get Wachovia. But on the Citi case study, we only get about a four page description. We don't get any insight into the crisis at Citi and dealing with Citi's blackhole balance sheet, which surely was one of the larger scenes of the crime, and thus the crisis (and a company that was saved instead of one that fell apart... we really don't get a picture here...and of course Rubin and others, especially given Rubin's purported long term role in getting Geithner in as a player....For more related stories, the range goes from stories such as The Washington Post, 25 November 2008, Familiar Trio at Heart of Citi Bailout...to Pro Publica, 14 January 2009, How Citigroup Unraveled Under Geithner's Watch).
Of course, we do get a customary description on key blow-ups Bear and Lehman, and a little on AIG (and yet..., where is the discussion on Bernanke and others, and the decision process on paying 100% on dollar to banks - SocGen, Deutsche, Goldman and others - holding certain AIG products that in any normal situation would at the very least warrant a significant haircut!).
We really do need to shift to the Esquire piece on JP Morgan's tussle with Barclays on handling Post-Lehman issues, and also the New Yorker piece on the Lehman breakdown...
The last section of the book also falls off quickly. There are a few very recent updates from mid-09 as the book likely went to press, which is misleading because we are expecting some higher level of detail for events in 1Q09, which just aren't there...
If I had to bet, a lot more Fed and Washington people were talked to for the book than Wall Street people. We also need a Martin Mayer (author of The Fed, 2001) approach or others to updating the Fed's pirouettes with more historical perspective. If we don't get more objective presentations from authors - we will have to keep reading blogs and occasional feature pieces like the Rolling Stone, New Yorker or Esquire accounts...
A good book for the color gained on key events. But the rose colored glasses have a strong tint and narrow vision.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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