Tuesday, March 24, 2009

This American Life

I wanted to post links to three episodes of the radio program, This American Life, that I really loved.  I've been more than a little confused about the current economic crisis.  I really enjoyed these three stories because they helped me to understand the problems and the proposed solutions a little better.

First, Episode 355, The Giant Pool of Money.  This episode focused on the mortgage crisis and its connection to the problems on Wall Street.  

Second, Episode 365, Another Frightening Show about the Economy.  This episode looks at the role of regulators in contributing to the financial crisis.  

Finally, Episode 375, Bad Bank.  This episode works to explain the banking collapse.  

This American Life and NPR News did a great job of explaining this complex topic so that people who got a C+ in Economics 110 could understand it. (Not that I got a C+ in Econ 110 or anything....ummm).  

Yet another reason why TAL and NPR are so amazing.  

4 comments:

Jacy said...

I totally need to listen to these. Maybe tonight when the kiddos are asleep.... I want so very much to be up to date on current events, but it's hard when the more pressing current events include dirty diapers, hungry babies, and a curious 2-year-old!

Welcome to the peanut allergy club, too. Such a bummer. I had to hold a moment of silence for the loss of peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches when Libby was diagnosed with her allergy. Isn't it so scary and unexpected? And kinda makes you feel like a statistic. I'm glad Nora did so well and that she had such good people to take care of her. Poor thing!

suzanne said...

I love NPR and TAL!! Did you hear the throat-singing monks on morning edition this morning? It was amazing!

Nadia said...

I love NPR but somehow we end up listening to... baby genius songs EVERYDAY prefferably whole day long ;-) Well we mix them up with some Russian songs and fairy tales. So I miss NPR because I used to listen to it everyday on the way to work. Those times are gone!!!!In our family we tend to blame everything on the government regulators who pushed banks to take risky loans and now making even a bigger mess out of it... probably all wrong but we got to find someone to blame, right ;-)!

Karolyn said...

Maybe you aren't checking this anymore, but I loved the story about bad banks. It really made sense to me, and I thought it was explained well, especially since my economics knowledge is so small. I'm glad you shared this on your blog. I need to listen to the other ones.