Apologia and the 2008 Financial Crisis

The 2008 financial crisis was one of global proportions. Its roots were in the United States’ financial services industry and eventually spread to countries in the Eurozone. In addition to the material effects it had on families and workers in America, it also caused some to question the integrity and stability of the philosophy that its economy was built upon. The people who were responsible for answering this question, in addition to many others, were government figures such as Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, and Henry Paulson. They had the task of explaining to America why they took the actions they did to address the crisis. This project will analyze whether or not Geithner, Bernanke, and Paulson engaged in apologia, also known as defense rhetoric, in their framing of the crisis.