Planet Money Podcast
Posted by Jeff September 22, 2008
A while back, This American Life did a fantastic show on the subprime crisis - “The Giant Pool of Money”. The show did a great job of tracing the steps as crap loans were repackaged and aggregated, ending up as AAA paper:
Alex Blumberg: Glen [Pizzolorusso, who was an area sales manager at an
outfit called WMC mortgage in upstate New York. Just to repeat, he was making 75
to a 100 grand a month. That’s over a million dollars a year] had five cars, a 1.5 million dollar vacation house in Connecticut, and penthouse that he rented in Manhattan. And he made all this
money making very large loans to very poor people with bad credit.Glen Pizzolorusso: We looked at loans. These people didn’t have a pot to piss
in. They can barely make a car payment and we’re giving them a 300, 400
thousand dollar house.
Now these same folks have gotten their own podcast: Planet Money.The topics are dead on target:
Government Wants to Buy ‘Toxic Waste’ for You
The U.S. Treasury Department and members of Congress are considering a $1 trillion plan to buy up bad assets on Wall Street. Economist Raghu Rajan says that looks like a move made in panic to him. He blames election-year politics, and proposes a way for Wall Street to save itself.
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:43:12 -0400Ralph Reed Lands on Planet Money
Ralph Reed provides one of the clearest takes on the financial crisis that we’ve yet heard, and then switches over to politics. Plus, more questions from listeners and answers from us.
Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:33:37 -0400Naked Short Selling, Meet Moral Hazard
Alex Blumberg takes a peek at the arcane Wall Street practice of naked short selling, while Adam Davidson considers what happens when the Street takes a break from moral hazard.
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:44:40 -0400Can You Pick a Politician on Economics?
With the insurance big AIG on the ropes today, questions from listeners poured in. Mike Pesca joins Adam Davidson and Laura Conaway for another round of answers to queries from inquiring minds on Planet Money.
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:44:30 -0400What’s the Deal With Lehman and Merrill?
The financial world — and more to the point, the rest of us — woke up Monday morning to a whole new Planet Money. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America. And the questions came pouring in. We answered as many as we coul d in 22 minutes.
Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:10:57 -0400Global Nightmare: If Fannie/Freddie Had Failed
Whatever the cost to taxpayers, foreign financial ministers tell us the U.S. Treasury had no choice but to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They say it was either act now or face economic Armageddon.
Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:07:02 -0400How Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Met China
Economist Brad Setser obsessively studies the way China buys American debt. If the buying stops, he says, the American economy would be in trouble — and the laws of economic logic suggest that’s almost inevitable.
Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:23:14 -0400
Rss is http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510289. Subscribed.Rss is http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510289.
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