Stress Test

Reflections on Financial Crises

By: Timothy F. Geithner

Narrated by: Timothy F. Geithner

New York Times Bestseller

Washington Post Bestseller

Los Angeles Times Bestseller

Stress Test is the story of Tim Geithner’s education in financial crises. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. In a candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, he takes readers behind the scenes of the crisis, explaining the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions he made to repair a broken financial system and prevent the collapse of the Main Street economy. This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers—in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes—helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it. Stress Test is also a valuable guide to how governments can better manage financial crises, because this one won’t be the last.

Stress Test reveals a side of Secretary Geithner the public has never seen, starting with his childhood as an American abroad. He recounts his early days as a young Treasury official helping to fight the international financial crises of the 1990s, then describes what he saw, what he did, and what he missed at the New York Fed before the Wall Street boom went bust. He takes readers inside the room as the crisis began, intensified, and burned out of control, discussing the most controversial episodes of his tenures at the New York Fed and the Treasury, including the rescue of Bear Stearns; the harrowing weekend when Lehman Brothers failed; the searing crucible of the AIG rescue as well as the furor over the firm’s lavish bonuses; the battles inside the Obama administration over his widely criticized but ultimately successful plan to end the crisis; and the bracing fight for the most sweeping financial reforms in more than seventy years. Secretary Geithner also describes the aftershocks of the crisis, including the administration’s efforts to address high unemployment, a series of brutal political battles over deficits and debt, and the drama over Europe’s repeated flirtations with the economic abyss.

Secretary Geithner is not a politician, but he has things to say about politics—the silliness, the nastiness, the toll it took on his family. But in the end, Stress Test is a hopeful story about public service. In this revealing memoir, Tim Geithner explains how America withstood the ultimate stress test of its political and financial systems.

©2014 Timothy F. Geithner (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

A Financial Times Best Book of 2014

“He’s written a really good book — we might as well get that out of the way, as so much else about Timothy F. Geithner remains unsettled… There’s hardly a moment in Geithner’s story when the reader feels he is being anything but straightforward — a near-superhuman feat for someone who spent so much time in public life defending himself from careless and dishonest personal attacks. The decisions he made are easier to criticize than they are to improve upon. I doubt many readers will put his book down and think the man did anything but his best. On his feet he might have stammered and wavered. That in itself was always a sign he was unusually brave.” –Michael Lewis, New York Times Book Review

“An intimate take on the financial crisis… gripping… conveys in visceral terms just how precarious things were during the crisis, just how frightened many first responders were, and just what an achievement it was to avert a major depression… [Geithner] demonstrates that he can discuss economics in an accessible fashion, making the situation the country faced in 2008 and 2009 tactile, comprehensible—and harrowing—to the lay reader. Along the way, he also gives us a telling portrait of himself.” –New York Times

“A how-to manual for anyone faced with a financial crisis… Mr Geithner was known for his brutal candor, and as an author, he does not disappoint.” —The Economist

Surprisingly well read and well written account!

First, I am usually loathe to review a book I have not completed. Second, I usually prefer a professional narrator to the author's own reading. Last, my tastes have run towards classical fiction and opera in recent months, perhaps because I work in the bond markets and it isn't all that relaxing to keep on working during my commute as well as during a 12 hour workday.

All that aside, this is SUCH a fascinating account of Secretary Tim Geithner's life and work experience that I am breaking with habit and writing a review although I am only a few hours into the book.

Geithner is actually a pretty decent narrator considering what a mediocre public speaker he was, and continues to apologize for. He has a tendency to drop his voice a little at the end of sentences which forced me to repeat some of his reading - but that small flaw is quite manageable and shouldn't discourage even picky listeners.

The story of his life and experience is quite engaging and well-written. His background is unusual and his perspectives sharp. This audio reveals him to be quite different from person portrayed by the press or even his own public appearances during his tenure in office and he defends his decisions and positions well. I am really impressed by his ability to explain how and why things happened and his own justifications for actions taken.

As a bond market participant with a front seat on the financial crisis I enjoyed reading TOO BIG TO FAIL. But one of the most frustrating aspects of that book was its strict reportorial nature - it explained what happened minute to minute but provided no real analysis of why and what it all meant. This book exactly goes to the places I found missing in TOO BIG TO FAIL and that is the most satisfying part of the book for me.

Geithner's willingness to say exactly what he thinks when so much of what he did is politically unpopular with so many on both sides of the US political divide is the most addictive part of this listening adventure. I can only stop listening long enough to write this review. I very highly recommend it to those who value Geithner's perspective on earlier crises as well as the 2008 Financial Crisis and his tenure as the first Secretary of the Treasury for the Obama Administration.

A look inside Fed/Treasury's crisis management

I consider it a perfect read after taking courses like "analyses of financial crises" and "understanding central banks" (or courses of the like). It was interesting to listen to how the history unraveled yet surprisingly the last chapter was a concise and thoughtful summary. If you can listen to one chapter only, go for the last one. Overall, I loved it and applaud for their work in containing the crisis to a level much more manageable than it otherwise would have become.

A worthwhile listen with some weaknesses

A very interesting listen with lots of recollections and insights of a person who was in the thick of the financial crisis.

Tim gives the listener a good understanding of where he came from and his financial crisis experience. All of those aspects of the book are excellent. For me there are two main "problems" with the book. The first being Tim's unserious and completely dismissive attitude toward complaints of the policies that led to the crisis. He basically says in a single sentence that people complained but they are wrong. Done. No more analysis needed. WRONG. In my opinion the long-term, non-crisis mode, policies that he advocates are fundamental to creating the crisis from the start and he seems to display no insight about it.

The second, and most serious, issue is how his constant personal ideological tilt has clearly corrupted all of his analysis. He constantly calls himself an independent and non political while throughout the book he makes it clear that to him Democrat=good and Republican=bad. the descriptions he uses for oppositional ideas are very childish and the motives he ascribes to anyone holding those ideas are badly skewed to the diabolical.

In the final analysis I definitely recommend the book. Especially if you can filter out the constant nasty political commentary. The book does yield interesting insights into the banking and financial system, government oversight, and their choices for managing the financial crisis.

Long but good

Politics aside, this was a great book in my eyes. It kinda of look at what I did type of book, but not in an arrogant sort of way. Geithner is very self depricating, and gives his honest take on how he saw things.

I enjoyed getting the clarification on certain events that occurred during the financial crisis that at the time I remembered thinking "why did that happen" He did a very good job at explaining the nuts and bolts of the process and the actual powers that each department actually has and had. Keep an open mind and politics out of it and you will enjoy this book.

An Excellent Education

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it paints the story of the most recent recession from the inside. If you want to know the why and how of the economics of crises development and strategies for resolution this book is a must read.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Viewing the development and response from the inside.

Have you listened to any of Timothy F. Geithner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. He is good for a non-professional.

If you could give Stress Test a new subtitle, what would it be?

View from the inside.

Any additional comments?

A long narrative, sometimes without date markers to remind the listener where in time the narration takes place. Despite being an Obama appointee Geithner is fairly even handed in his treatment of the Bush administration. He is hard on the political process especially "Tea Party" republicans. However, it is well worth reading and a real education in crises management.

Refreshing

It's refreshing to see the perspective of the government as opposed to the press'. I especially appreciated the narratives of what was going on inside the White house at the time.

Indispensable.

Indispensable narrative about the GFC and the counterintuitive methods that you need to fight crises of confidence.

It’s also a pretty disturbing reminder of how misunderstood the GFC continues to be.

Great story

Timothy really should have hired a professional to read this book for him. I think he did an amazing job writing this book and really just had a rough time telling the story.

Interesting, but somewhat repetitive

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd recommend this audiobook to anybody who watches the news and has an interest for the world economy. And yes, that even goes for those who rely primarily on Fox News to keep them up-to-date. The latter category may encounter views and information about the financial crisis of that differ from their regular news diet, but I hardly see how it can hurt them.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not at all. He relates plenty of very interesting information in an open and candid fashion - he is not afraid to confess mistakes he has done and things he should have handled differently, and that was refreshing. However, once he gets into the thick of the crisis, he gets irritatingly repetitive at criticizing those who wished "old testament justice" upon bankers (and other low-lives). If trying to swallow this book in one sitting, I think these repetitions would appear quite choking...

Any additional comments?

The part up until he starts working in the Obama administration is very, very good. It is only after that he slips into annoying repetitions at times - but even then, there are gold nuggets in between. It is also refreshing that he reads his own story himself - he does that well, and it adds sincerity to the narrative.

Fascinating peak inside of history

This provides a view few people understood of how close the US/world was to another depression.