Understanding Financial Meltdowns

[hsapiens]

Like most (all?) Americans, I've been trying to figure out what the hell happened to the financial system, why we have the bailout plan we have, and whether I should think it's a good thing. Most of the sources I found are either too superficial or filled with jargon I didn't understand.

A month ago, I had the good luck to catch an episode of the radio program, This American Life, which explained the background of the housing crisis. It was phenomenal. This Sunday, I caught part of another episode, which explained the bailout, credit default swaps, why the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers forced AIG into financial straits...and how the meltdown ballooned out of the commercial paper market freeze. I had to leave before the show finished so I made it a point to search out the online version; it was just that good.

These programs are aimed for an audience with no knowledge of the U.S. financial system and they take the time to explain the terminology in easily digested words. :) Each one is an hour. If you're interested in listening to them yourself, here are the links:

The Giant Pool of Money: A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

Another Frightening Show about the Economy: They'll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could've done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.

Both are free to download from the links given. The second is available this week only on iTunes as a "This American Life" podcast for free. :)

Comments

[jehnt.livejournal.com]

These look like pretty great programs... I've picked up enough knowledge from reading economics blogs since the Bear Stearns thing so that even the jargon is starting to make sense, but hearing it broken down will definitely be good. Thanks for linking to these!

[la-directora.livejournal.com]

I sat and had a very interesting conversation over lunch last week with the banker who used to be my boss, and who now just shares office space with my current boss. He explained the whole thing to me from an investment banker perspective, which was very interesting, but which certainly felt at least slightly slanted. I look forward to listening to these and seeing what the differences in perspective are.

[samantilles.livejournal.com]

being someone who used to be in the banking industry (the retail banking, personal checking/savings/CD's, etc not the real money making banking) I know I've had a better grasp than most on what has been going on... but these are great! I'm definitely going to link this from my blog for others to listen to!

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I feel like I have a gut level understanding of what's happening (as in, my gut's been going "HUH?" for years about various and sundry things that are now crashing down around us), but I look forward to moving it from my gut to my cerebral cortex. :-)

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Thanks, darlin'!

[memento1.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! Thank you so much! I've been so confused by the whole thing and I really appreciate an in-depth look that is also easy to understand (which I wish they had for most things). Also good, I'm going to be heavily dog-walking for the next week and a half, so I was on the look-out for good things to listen to on my iPod.

[serenity-stone.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!