When the conflagration that became the financial crisis began more than 10 years ago, Ben Bernanke,

Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner didn't know each other well at all.

But the crisis demanded they come together.

Bernanke is Fed Chair, Paulson is Bush's Treasury Secretary, and Geithner as Obama's.

And together they put out that fire.

They've now written a book about their experiences called Firefighting, the financial crisis

and its lessons.

And they joined me for an exclusive interview.

The German pleasure to have you on.

Tim, one of the things you write in the book that is most worrying is we're another crisis

to happen.

And we know that these kind of crises happen in the history of capitalism periodically.

The United States government collectively does no longer have the tools to do the kind

of rescue that you guys did 10 years ago.

We're in better shape in many ways in the sense that the financial system is more stable.

And the post-crisis reforms are much tougher and applied a much broader share of the system.

And if those are protected and not eroded or weakened over time, that'll bias a measure

of stability.

But it is true that if we go into another crisis, we will not have the things any country

has to use.

In 0809 to protect the country from a panic and a great depression.

Those were either expired or were taken away by the Congress in the understandable and

...