I was a very serious baby.

John Gerzema: The Post-Crisis Dunce

Posted: December 13th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: audio, economic | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments »

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)

Posted: March 4th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: audio, economic | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »



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.


SeeingFinance.com

Posted: February 21st, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: economic | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

SeeingFinance.com is almost ready for action!


housing_crss_cover1


Do Something About the U.S. National Debt Disaster!

Posted: December 11th, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: economic, politic | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

A nice 30-minute version of the I.O.U.S.A film is available here.

And a “Citizen’s Guide” resource about our national debt is available here.


Funds Deployed in 2008 Financial Crisis

Posted: November 25th, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: economic | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

An iterative attempt to show, broadly, where the money is going. This doesn’t include additional trillions implied by guarantees of deposits, debt, and gift cards (really?). Still searching for an estimate of the amount involved in the first Fannie/Freddie bailout passed with the Government Sponsored Enterprise Credit Facility bill of July, 2008.

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Mortgage Backed Securities Defaults

Posted: October 16th, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: economic | Tags: , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »


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Radio Program Explains the U.S. Financial Crisis

Posted: October 10th, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: audio | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

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.

This American Life Episode 355Episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money

This American Life Episode 365Episode 365: Another Frightening Show about the Economy