The consumer can do little to prevent such a crisis, but awareness and modest preparation are a rational response.
I think it is pretty analogous to fema preparations for catastrophies. A homeowner can't stop a pandemics or hurricane. They can have an emergency kit.
It’s concerning a regulator and lender of last resort considers what happens at the precipice of last resorts?
Yes! That's the point! You don't want to arrive at a worst-case scenario unprepared!
The US military has all sorts of files and plans on bizarre and implausible scenarios, mostly as intellectual exercises ("if we wanted to invade Canada, how would we do it?"). That doesn't imply anything about their likelihood.
The fed responding wrongly to a crisis, even a minor one, could cause enormous pain and suffering -- think famine. I don't have the expertise or patience to actually evaluate the contents of the document, but they are definitely doing the right kind of thing here.
But this book is a "Doomsday Book" because it's a book written to prepare for a day of doom. I'm not sure we can draw a strong connection between the names.
This seems both novel and somewhat concerning, as it indicates the Federal Reserve anticipates and prepares for worst-case scenarios that could severely disrupt the financial system. The very existence and continuous updating of such a manual provides a window into how the Fed thinks about and prepares for potential crises.