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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Timothy Geithner worked for the Treasury Department and what organization prior to his appointment as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York?

2. John Thain is described in Chapter 7 as having worked for Henry Paulson at Goldman Sachs and then as CEO of what company?

3. Lloyd Blankfein had assembled a meeting of the board of Goldman Sachs where in Chapter 9?

4. According to the author in Chapter 5, Jim Cramer, a media star, was solidly Harvard and counted as one of his best friends which individual called “the bane of Wall Street”?

5. Hank Paulson joined Goldman Sachs covering large industrial companies in the Midwest in what year?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Hank Paulson’s first concern regarding the possibility of failure of Lehman Brothers, according to the author in Chapter 4?

2. To whom did John Thain turn for help with Merrill Lynch’s situation in Chapter 7? What response did he receive?

3. How does the author describe David Einhorn in Chapter 5?

4. Who was let go from Lehman Brothers during an executive committee meeting in Chapter 6?

5. What meeting does the author describe Jamie Dimon attending in the Prologue of Too Big to Fail?

6. How was Lehman Brothers impacted by the news of Bear Stearns’ collapse, according to the author in Chapter 1? What actions did the company take?

7. What was the result of spreading sub-prime mortgages across the spectrum of the investment world, according to the author in the Prologue?

8. How does Andrew Ross Sorkin explain the underlying cause of the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008 in the Prologue of Too Big to Fail?

9. How is Dick Fuld’s career described in Chapter 1? Who did Fuld choose as his right-hand-man at Lehman Brothers?

10. Who did Bob Willumstad replace as CEO of AIG? How does the author describe Hank Greenberg’s thoughts on this transition in Chapter 8?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze the testimonies of Timothy Geithner, Bob Steel, Jamie Dimon, and Ben Bernanke before the Senate Banking Committee in 2008. How did the media interpret these testimonies during this time? What was the public response?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Jim Cramer and CNBC, as well as the influence of journalism on Wall Street. How much of the dealings on Wall Street are based on media speculation? How powerful is this speculation? How respected is Jim Cramer in this regard?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss Susanne Craig’s article from the Wall Street Journal on June 4, 2008. What implications do you see in the article? Why did its publication enrage Dick Fuld? How did the article influence the future of Lehman Brothers’ stockholdings?

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