Geithner's Book Has a Title: 'Stress Test'

Chris Usher/CBS News, via Associated Press

To title his memoir, Timothy F. Geithner has employed a somewhat wonky phrase evocative of the financial crisis: 'Stress Test.'

That title, announced on Tuesday by the Crown Publishing Group, gives a flavor of the upcoming memoir by Mr. Geithner, who, as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as Treasury secretary, was a central player in the government's effort to fight the financial crisis and economic recession. The publisher said the book would be released on May 13.

The title refers to simulations that regulators ran in the aftermath of the crisis to judge the ability of banks to withstand shocks. But Mr. Geithner, who starts a new job next week as president of the private equity firm Warburg Pincus, is teasing broader meaning from those two words.

'The financial crisis was a stress test of our nation, an extreme real-time challenge of a democracy's ability to act when the world needed creative, decisive, politically unpalatable action,' Mr. Geithner said in a statement posted to a new website to promote the book, whose dust jacket features a picture of the former Treasury secretary with furrowed brow.

Another central figure in the government's response team, Ben S. Bernanke, the former Fed chairman, told newsandtalking.blogspot.com on Monday that he, too, would write a memoir. 'I want people to understand what we knew, when we knew it, how we made decisions and how we dealt with the enormous economic uncertainty,' Mr. Bernanke said, adding that he wanted to explain why the Fed's actions were 'the right thing to do.'

Similarly, Mr. Geithner's book appears intended to answer lingering questions and provide insight into the government's thinking. Judging by Mr. Geithner's statement on Tuesday, the book will argue - not surprisingly - that the government's response to the financial crisis was ultimately successful in rescuing the economy.

'We made mistakes, it was messy, and the damage was devastating and long-lasting. And yet, at the moments of most extreme peril, the United States was able to design and execute a remarkably effective strategy,' Mr. Geithner said.

'The small group of key policy makers worked together surprisingly well, arguing, agonizing, sometimes agreeing to disagree, but mostly trying to get the right answer and minimize the time wasted on bureaucratic conflict. We saved the economy from a failing financial system, though we lost the country doing it,' he continued.

Among the questions that Mr. Geithner is seeking to answer are: 'How did we decide who got bailed out? Why didn't we nationalize more banks, or let more banks fail? How did we manage to convince the left we were Wall Street's wingmen while convincing Wall Street we were Che Guevaras in suits? Why didn't we do more (or less) about the housing market? Why didn't we get more (or less) fiscal stimulus? Why isn't the economy booming again?

'And what really happened with Lehman, anyway?'

The book's subtitle, 'Reflections on Financial Crises,' suggests that the account addresses more than just the crisis of 2008.

'All financial crises are different, but they have a lot in common, and there are lessons to learn from this extreme one that can help policy makers and the public during the next one,' Mr. Geithner said. 'I hope this story can help illuminate these lessons.'

The announcement on Tuesday provides an answer to a guessing game played by members of the financial media a year ago. Using the Twitter hashtag, #GeithnerBookTitles, reporters and others provided their own humorous suggestions for the title of Mr. Geithner's memoir.

One entry, by Justin Miller, who was then an editor at New York magazine, came close to the mark:

RT @justinjm1: Stress Tested #GeithnerBookTitles

- Will Alden (@williamalden) 25 Feb 14

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