Better off than four years ago?

Twelve of the 13 most important U.S. financial firms were at the brink of failure at the height of the credit crisis in 2008 (Diablo 3 Gold), according to previously undisclosed remarks made by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in November 2009 to an investigative panel.

He told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in a private interview that even the most powerful U.S. investment bank, Goldman Sachs, was among those he feared would topple in a crisis he described as the worst in financial history, even exceeding the Great Depression.

The notes from the interview were released on Thursday by the commission as part of its final report.

"If you look at the firms that came under pressure in that period ... only one ... was not at serious risk of failure (Diablo 3 Gold)," Bernanke told the commission. "Even Goldman Sachs, we thought there was a real chance that they would go under."