How bad is the crisis, really? Will the bail-outs work? What happens next?
This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money
There are a few sources that offer the real, human story side to all this. Digging in to research the crisis and the economy can overwhelm you with figures, complex investment references, finger-pointing and now world economic interrelationships and uncertainties. There's enough of that kind of information out there.
The podcasts listed here will give you an understanding from the human story side, a view of things from the perspectives of those involved. These shows are highly recommended. If you only spend a few hours this year learning to understand the crisis, spend them listening to these shows.
October 3, 2008 - so when they talk about the bail-out package, they are talking about the first one from September.
Ira Glass and his staff are excellent, and this show is a real gift. Thanks, Ira!
From May 9, 2008, Ira and his staff again show that they were watching this whole thing unravel and bringing us the stories from behind the scenes.
Sept 26, 2008. What is commercial paper, and why is it so important to our nation's economy? What happened that scared lawmakers and analysts into considering rushing 700 billion dollar bail-out packages through? Find out in this show.
UPDATE 03/09/09: Added this new podcast as well.
Feb 27, 2009. The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. This is the same team that came together to produce the above episodes. The first segment uses very basic banking examples to clarify the "rock and a hard place" that are stressing out the banks. You also meet business investors that are creating solutions for the home mortgage crisis, but you'll see that the scale at which they can work this solution is just too small to be the main fix.
In general, the Planet Money Podcast from NPR has been doing good stuff, well worth the time to listen and discuss with family and friends.
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