{"title":"David Wessel","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"in-fed-we-trust-book-david-wessel-9780307459688","title":"In Fed We Trust","description":"\u003cb\u003e-Whatever it takes-\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThat 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. \u003cbr\u003eThe 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. \u003cbr\u003eBelieving 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. \u003cbr\u003eIn piecing together the fullest, most authoritative, and alarming picture yet of this decisive moment in our nation's history, \u003ci\u003eIn Fed We Trust\u003c\/i\u003e answers the most critical questions. Among them: \u003cbr\u003e- 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? \u003cbr\u003e- 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-? \u003cbr\u003e- How well did Bernanke, former treasury secretary Hank Paulson, and then New York Fed president Tim Geithner perform under intense pressure? \u003cbr\u003e- How did the crisis prompt a reappraisal of the once-impregnable reputation of Alan Greenspan? \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn Fed We Trust\u003c\/i\u003e is a breathtaking and singularly perceptive look at a historic episode in American and global economic history. \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the Hardcover edition.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49599592825105,"sku":"GOR004031462","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346880303377,"sku":"CIN0307459683G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50660319461649,"sku":"CIN0307459683VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":51328067436817,"sku":"CIN0307459683LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307459683.jpg?v=1751132958"},{"product_id":"in-fed-we-trust-book-david-wessel-9780307459695","title":"In FED We Trust","description":"\u003cb\u003e-Whatever it takes-\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThat 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. \u003cbr\u003eThe 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. \u003cbr\u003eBelieving 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. \u003cbr\u003eIn piecing together the fullest, most authoritative, and alarming picture yet of this decisive moment in our nation's history, \u003ci\u003eIn Fed We Trust\u003c\/i\u003e answers the most critical questions. Among them: \u003cbr\u003e- 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? \u003cbr\u003e- 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-? \u003cbr\u003e- How well did Bernanke, former treasury secretary Hank Paulson, and then New York Fed president Tim Geithner perform under intense pressure? \u003cbr\u003e- How did the crisis prompt a reappraisal of the once-impregnable reputation of Alan Greenspan? \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn Fed We Trust\u003c\/i\u003e is a breathtaking and singularly perceptive look at a historic episode in American and global economic history. \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the Hardcover edition.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49727307481361,"sku":"NGR9780307459695","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49941531197713,"sku":"CIN0307459691G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50165565227281,"sku":"CIN0307459691VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50305237713169,"sku":"CIN0307459691A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51860183777553,"sku":"GOR009323749","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52431203664145,"sku":"NLS9780307459695","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52849003888913,"sku":"NIN9780307459695","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0307459691.jpg?v=1751227499"},{"product_id":"only-the-rich-can-play-book-david-wessel-9781541757196","title":"Only the Rich Can Play","description":"David Wessel's incredible tale of how Washington works-and why the rich keep getting richer-starts when a Silicon Valley entrepreneur concocts an idea that will save money on his taxes and spins it as a way to ostensibly help poor people. He organizes and pays for an effective lobbying effort that pushes his idea into law with little scrutiny or fine-tuning by congressional or Treasury tax experts-and few safeguards against abuse. With an unbeatable pair of high-profile sponsors, bumper-sticker simplicity and deft political marketing, the Opportunity Zone became an unnoticed part of the 2017 Trump tax bill.  The gold rush followed immediately thereafter.  In Only the Rich Can Play, Wessel follows the money to see who profited from this plan that was supposed to spur development of blighted areas and help people out of poverty: the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, the Portland (Oregon) Ritz-Carlton, the Mall of America, and self-storage facilities-lucrative areas where the one percent can park money profitably and avoid capital gains taxes. And the best part: unlike other provisions for eliminating capital gains taxes (inheritance, for example) you don't have to die to take advantage of this one.  Wessel provides vivid portraits of the proselytizers, political influencers, motivational speakers, consultants, real estate dealmakers, and individual money-seekers looking to take advantage of this twenty-first century bonanza. He looks at places for which Opportunity Zones were supposedly designed (Baltimore, for example) and how little money they've drawn. And he finds a couple of places (Erie, PA) where zones are actually doing what they were supposed to, a lesson on how a better designed program might have helped more left-behind places. Readers will feel outraged as Wessel gives us the gritty reality, the dark underbelly of a system tilted in favor of the few, with the many left out in the cold.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742106722577,"sku":"NGR9781541757196","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49969518248209,"sku":"CIN154175719XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51433354101009,"sku":"GOR012331640","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52082221187345,"sku":"CIN154175719XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53115589558545,"sku":"CIN154175719XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/154175719X.jpg?v=1750893915"},{"product_id":"prosperity-book-bob-davis-ma-9780812932003","title":"Prosperity","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50130893275409,"sku":"CIN0812932005G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0812932005.jpg?v=1751264460"},{"product_id":"red-ink-book-david-wessel-9780770436148","title":"Red Ink","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter, columnist, and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eIn Fed We Trust\u003c\/i\u003e, dissects the federal budget in this \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a sweeping narrative about the people and the politics behind the budget--a topic that is fiercely debated today in the halls of Congress and the media, and yet is often misunderstood by the American public--Wessel looks at the 2011 fiscal year (which ended September 30) to see where all the money was actually spent, and why the budget process has grown wildly out of control. Through the eyes of key people, including Jacob Lew, White House director of the Office of Management and Budget; Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office; Blackstone founder and former Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson; and more, Wessel gives readers an inside look at the making of our unsustainable budget.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50360449368337,"sku":"CIN0770436145G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50360453923089,"sku":"CIN0770436145VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51334298960145,"sku":"CIN0770436145A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0770436145.jpg?v=1751170002"},{"product_id":"red-ink-book-david-wessel-9780770436162","title":"Red Ink","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter, columnist, and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eIn Fed We Trust\u003c\/i\u003e, dissects the federal budget in this \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIn a sweeping narrative about the people and the politics behind the budget--a topic that is fiercely debated today in the halls of Congress and the media, and yet is often misunderstood by the American public--Wessel looks at the 2011 fiscal year (which ended September 30) to see where all the money was actually spent, and why the budget process has grown wildly out of control. Through the eyes of key people, including Jacob Lew, White House director of the Office of Management and Budget; Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office; Blackstone founder and former Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson; and more, Wessel gives readers an inside look at the making of our unsustainable budget.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50364063351057,"sku":"CIN0770436161G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51268552196369,"sku":"NIN9780770436162","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52147950387473,"sku":"NLS9780770436162","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53007937765649,"sku":"CIN0770436161VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0770436161.jpg?v=1751011050"},{"product_id":"13-trillion-question-book-david-wessel-9780815727057","title":"The $13 Trillion Question","description":"The underexamined art and science of managing the federal government's huge debt. Everyone talks about the size of the U.S. national debt, now at $13 trillion and climbing, but few talk about how the U.S. Treasury does the borrowing—even though it is one of the world's largest borrowers. Everyone from bond traders to the home-buying public is affected by the Treasury's decisions about whether to borrow short or long term and what types of bonds to sell to investors. What is the best way for the Treasury to finance the government's huge debt? Harvard's Robin Greenwood, Sam Hanson, Joshua Rudolph, and Larry Summers argue that the Treasury could save taxpayers money and help the economy by borrowing more short term and less long term. They also argue that the Treasury and the Federal Reserve made a huge mistake in recent years by rowing in opposite directions: while the Fed was buying long-term bonds to push investors into other assets, the Treasury was doing the opposite—selling investors more long-term bonds. This book includes responses from a variety of public and private sector experts on how the Treasury does its borrowing, some of whom have criticized the way the Treasury has been managing its borrowing.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52188258763025,"sku":"CIN0815727054G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52453217861905,"sku":"NLS9780815727057","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780815727057.jpg?v=1757704878"},{"product_id":"central-banking-after-the-great-recession-book-david-wessel-9780815726081","title":"Central Banking after the Great Recession","description":"The global financial crisis is largely behind us, but the challenges it poses to the future stability of the world's economic system affects everyone from American families to Main Street businesses to Wall Street financial powerhouses. This book deals with this topic.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52453217337617,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52453217927441,"sku":"NLS9780815726081","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780815726081.jpg?v=1759367171"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-david-wessel.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}