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hsapiens
hsapiens
06 October 2008 @ 11:58 pm
Understanding Financial Meltdowns  
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. :)
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[identity profile] jehnt.livejournal.com on October 7th, 2008 02:47 pm (UTC)
I love Nouriel Roubini's Economonitor most -- you have to sign up to see the full posts but it's totally worth it. He's the current darling of the crisis because he's been predicting this for years, and the MSM started watching him around the Bear Stearns incident and I think all his predictions have come true. He clearly has his shit together. But his posts are often seriously tl;dr.

I've also picked up a lot from the economics category at The American Scene. I think it's a right-leaning blog but they're not overtly partisan (that I can recall). They've had some good overviews and also some good links out to other places.

I honestly get to most of them by clicking through from political blogs... some that have had good links are TPM (and they've got a collection of quotes which links to their sources on their bailout burnout page, and it links to a bunch of people I've read and found interesting) and hilzoy, who has also had some good overviews. Both are liberal, in case you're not familiar with them, but they try to pull economic analyses from all over.

Also of course stuff from The Economist just because, uh, it's what pops to mind when I think of economics. They've got some blog sections and stuff. It's pretty interesting. Also interesting was this article, where like 80% of economists polled say Obama would be better for the economy. McCain: pwned.
Mish[identity profile] hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 7th, 2008 03:58 pm (UTC)
Thank you for the links! I'm already registered at and checking out the first one (yay for free trials!) and following up the others shortly. I don't mind reading conservative or liberal opinions, I just like to know the person's operating philosophy so I can know the context.

A lot of the economic analysis I've seen of Republican vs. Democratic Admin -- and I'll be the first to admit I've been a surface skimmer -- indicates that Democrats in general are better for the economy. Luckily, this year's really easy to judge as McCain likes our current model so much he'd like to put it on steroids. Short of shutting down the Treasury and reverting to a barter system, I'm hard pressed to think what a government could do worse in handling the economy.

Not that I think huge tax cuts for anyone is a good idea at this time. After effectively doubling this year's deficit, I'm really antsy about any plan that promises to cut revenue and raise expenditures.