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Trillion Dollar Triage
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Trillion Dollar Triage

How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled a President and a Pandemic—and Prevented Economic Disaster

Nick Timiraos
Little, Brown US, 2022
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8

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During the 2008 global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve and the US government mounted a halting response that prolonged the economic agony. During the coronavirus downturn of 2020, by contrast, the Fed and the feds acted so decisively that they stabilized the economy in just a few months. As the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos had a front-row seat to the crisis. In this engrossing retelling, he paints Fed Chair Jerome Powell as a steady hand who made the right moves with minimal drama. Perhaps the only weak spot in this account is that it ends while Powell could still term inflation “transitory.”

Summary

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jerome Powell was at the helm of the US Federal Reserve.

Jerome Powell had made millions on Wall Street. His résumé included a stint at Dillon Read as the head of mergers, and he later joined the Carlyle Group, a private equity fund, where he oversaw buyouts of industrial companies. In 2010, wealthy and eager to switch careers to government service, he joined a nonpartisan think tank. In 2011, the Republican-controlled Congress was at odds with President Barack Obama, and the debt ceiling and a government shutdown were much-debated topics in Washington, DC. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner began referring reporters to Powell as an unofficial voice of reason in the debt ceiling debate. Next, Geithner began using Powell to talk down those Republicans willing to push the economy into crisis.

Powell’s skill at calmly and clearly explaining complicated ideas led to his appointment to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. Powell looked the part, with his silver hair and Ivy League pedigree. He also had a sharp memory and strong listening skills. But he hadn’t been trained as an economist, leading Fed staffers...

About the Author

Nick Timiraos is the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

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