Summary of Nick Timiraos's Trillion Dollar Triage

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 Jay Powell, who would later become the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was born in Washington D. C. in 1945. His family were among the first Catholics to join the prestigious Chevy Chase Club, where his father was president. He learned from his father how to measure his words carefully.

#2 Brady, who had been Reagan's secretary of the Treasury, hired Powell to be his assistant secretary. Powell then called up his old Wall Street law firm, Davis Polk Wardwell, and asked for a hardworking assistant. They recommended a thirty-three-year-old Ivy League lawyer named Randal Quarles.

#3 In early 1991, Powell was tasked with dealing with the Bank of New England, a regional bank on the brink of failure as a result of the recent collapse of the commercial and residential real-estate markets. The immediate stakes were not catastrophic, but the basic questions were the same as when a Citigroup or Lehman Brothers was courting insolvency: should the government let market forces wash away poorly managed institutions.

#4 In 1991, Powell was tasked with deciding the fate of Wall Street giant Salomon Brothers. The company had been cornering the market for two-year Treasury notes, which they could then force dealers to buy back from them at higher prices.