John Gerzema: The Post-Crisis Dunce

When I first discovered TED, it offered a variety of truly great, inspiring talks. Lately, some major duds are showing up on the website. A video of John Gerzema, an executive of ad firm Young & Rubicam, appeared on the TED website in October. His talk is titled The Post-Crisis Consumer, and he argues that the “consumer” is proactive, not reactive, particularly in this time of crisis.

Let me give you his two lines that offended me the most.

“The consumer drove us headlong into the crisis that we face today.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the consumer, who drove us into this recession, to lead us right back out.”

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Radio Program Explains the U.S. Financial Crisis (Part 2)

This American Life – Episode 375: Bad Banks

From the same guys that brought us the “Giant Pool of Money“, another ultra-simple explanation. This time, it’s the quandary that the big bad banks, taxpayers, and U.S. government currently find themselves in, with a dollhouse analogy and a simple balance sheet to introduce the concepts.

Radio Program Explains the U.S. Financial Crisis

From This American Life, presenting the crisis in plain English, these two pieces are immensely popular and helpful. The guys who reported these stories (Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson) also have a new podcast series and blog called Planet Money.

Episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money

Episode 365: Another Frightening Show about the Economy