Bonus: Bernanke, Geithner and Paulson: The Full Interview
![](https://www.marketplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/main20image_4.jpg?w=900)
Your regular episode of Marketplace is coming later today, but for now we have something special. It's an interview a decade in the making: Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, and President of the New York Fed Tim Geithner, who later served as Treasury Secretary under President Obama. In 2008, they worked together to coordinate an unprecedented response to the financial crisis, often racing to do so against the clock and public opinion.
For the first time they've been together in public since crisis, Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner sat down with us to discuss Bear Stearns, the government takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman weekend and the fear they felt as they struggled to stop the financial crisis spreading from Wall Street to Main Street. They talked about their biggest regrets and why they wished they'd done a better job explaining their actions to the American people. Then, they looked ahead to talk about our ability to fight the next financial crisis and why a functioning Congress is so important to solve crises before they start.
This interview is part of Marketplace’s coverage of the ten-year anniversary of the financial crisis called Divided Decade, a year-long project exploring what happened, why it matters now and how the aftermath will continue to have an impact on Americans’ economic future.
Your regular episode of Marketplace is coming later today, but for now we have something special. It’s an interview a decade in the making: Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, and President of the New York Fed Tim Geithner, who later served as Treasury Secretary under President Obama. In 2008, they worked together to coordinate an unprecedented response to the financial crisis, often racing to do so against the clock and public opinion.
For the first time they’ve been together in public since crisis, Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner sat down with us to discuss Bear Stearns, the government takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman weekend and the fear they felt as they struggled to stop the financial crisis spreading from Wall Street to Main Street. They talked about their biggest regrets and why they wished they’d done a better job explaining their actions to the American people. Then, they looked ahead to talk about our ability to fight the next financial crisis and why a functioning Congress is so important to solve crises before they start.
This interview is part of Marketplace’s coverage of the ten-year anniversary of the financial crisis called Divided Decade, a year-long project exploring what happened, why it matters now and how the aftermath will continue to have an impact on Americans’ economic future.