Last night, The Spectator hosted a discussion between Ben Bernanke and Andrew Neil about the financial crisis and its aftermath. Mr Bernanke, who was chairman of the US Federal Reserve during the crash and Great Recession, spoke about a number of different topics.
Initially, conversation focussed on the buildup to the crash. ‘What made the crisis so bad at the time was the panic it triggered,’ said Mr Bernanke. He suggested that while subprime mortgages were actually a relatively small asset class, their links to so many other types of credit led to panic.
Mr Bernanke then went onto describe the relationship between the Federal Reserve and Washington – suggesting that while he tried to ‘maintain a collegial feel’ throughout the crisis, both within the Federal Reserve and beyond, it wasn’t always easy.
The discussion then moved onto the early days of the crisis – and whether the Federal Reserve could have done more to save Lehman Brothers.
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