Introduction and Background

David Bowles and Cary Cooper
Additional contact information
David Bowles: Lancaster University
Cary Cooper: Lancaster University

A chapter in The High Engagement Work Culture, 2012, pp 1-3 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns in the United States set off a systemic panic that almost engulfed the world’s financial system. Only as a result of major efforts within the US and the UK, along with worldwide cooperation, were we able to pull back from the brink. Recent data shows that the US Federal Reserve lent no less than $3.3 trillion to prop up the world’s economy, including to the Bank of England. The amount of money “lent, spent or committed,” was an incredible $7.7 trillion, according the influential financial firm Bloomberg, which points out that even that number might be an underestimate.1 Even the “unsinkable” Goldman Sachs received far more (and went to the “Fed” much more frequently) than had been thought. In one week in September 2008, 12 of the 13 largest US banks were technically insolvent, including Goldman itself. Thanks to the rapid and successful recovery efforts, most still do not grasp the fact that the US was facing a financial meltdown of far greater proportions than the Great Depression. This is not our opinion, but that of an expert on that earlier period, Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, speaking to the official US government enquiry into the Crash.2

Keywords: Federal Reserve; Engagement Work; Great Recession; Financial Service Industry; Work Morale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-02807-5_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137028075

DOI: 10.1057/9781137028075_1

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().