We judged that a sudden, disorderly failure of Bear would have brought with it unpredictable but severe consequences for the functioning of the broader financial system and the broader economy, with lower equity prices, further downward pressure on home values, and less access to credit for companies and households.

He has studied Mandarin and Japanese. S. His reply that they were "very safe" drew laughter from the audience.

At the end of his first year in office he continued to deal with multiple high visibility issues including administration efforts to restructure the regulation of the nation's financial system attempts to spur recovery of both the mortgage market and the automobile industry demands for protectionism President Obama's tax changes and negotiations with foreign governments on approaches to worldwide financial issues. : /ˈɡaɪtnər/; born August 18 1961) is an American economic policy maker and central banker who served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013.