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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. What was the Chairman of the Board of AIG’s outside law firm in Chapter 8?

2. How old was Scott Friedheim described by the author in Chapter 6?

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

4. How much was oil going for per barrel according to the author in Chapter 9?

5. Who did John Thain replace in his position as CEO in 2007, as described by the author in Chapter 7?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Timothy Geithner characterized in Chapter 3? What position did he hold at the Federal Reserve?

2. 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?

3. How does the author describe John Thain’s rise in the financial world in Chapter 7?

4. What was the secret plan that Hank Paulson developed for how to deal with the situation if Lehman Brothers or several banks should begin to fail in Chapter 4?

5. What executive meeting does the author describe in the opening of Chapter 9? Where did the meeting take place?

6. When was AIG’s Financial Products department developed, according to the author in Chapter 8? How successful was this department?

7. What was John Thain’s plan for turning around Merrill Lynch after his acceptance of the role as CEO in Chapter 7?

8. What advice did Skip McGee give to Dick Fuld in Chapter 6? How did Fuld respond?

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

10. What was the impact of David Einhorn’s speech regarding Lehman Brothers’ assets in Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the career of David Einhorn and his establishment of Greenlight Capital. When was Greenlight Capital established and how quickly did the company grow? What role did the hedge fund play in the derivatives market and in the downfall of 2008?

Essay Topic 2

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 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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