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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. According to the author in Chapter 5, David Einhorn was a hedge manager controlling over how much money in assets?

2. Who did Hank Paulson succeed as Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs?

3. What title did Hank Paulson hold in 2008?

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

5. Who was Dick Fuld’s Chief Strategy Officer in Chapter 6?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How did Henry Paulson come about encountering the Goldman Sachs executives in Chapter 9?

4. Why did Dick Fuld meet with other Lehman executives and Jim Cramer in Chapter 5? How did this meeting turn out?

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

6. What suggestion did Hank Paulson make to Dick Fuld regarding Lehman Brothers’ holdings in Chapter 2? How did Fuld respond?

7. 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?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the history of Lehman Brothers from its inception in the 1800s to its demise in 2008. What choices were made within the company that can be seen as attributing to its downfall and bankruptcy? How involved was Dick Fuld in making these decisions? Who else was integral in decision making?

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

Discuss Lehman Brothers’ portfolio and assets in 2008 and analyze the downfall of Lehman Brothers and their problems on the books prior to their file for bankruptcy. How did sub-prime mortgage trading influence the problems that Lehman faced in 2008?

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