If you want to know how long ago the seeds of the current financial crisis were sown, definitely listen to this episode of Fresh Air. Terry Gross’ interview of Frank Partnoy reveals not just how derivatives came to be unregulated, but who some of the players were in making it possible. What may disturb you is how many of the people who made the current situation possible are playing key roles in trying to fix it. Partnoy also authored F.I.A.S.C.O.: Blood in the Water on Wall Street. He first wrote this book 12 years ago–before the collapse of the internet and telecom bubbles, before Enron, and the subprime mortgage meltdown that triggered our latest financial calamity.
Tag: finance
Mark Cuban, Keeping an Eye on the Bailout
If you’ve been listening to NPR’s Planet Money, you already know about BailoutSleuth.com. But in case you don’t, it’s a creation of Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks) to report on how the money allocated by the bailout bill is being used.
They’ve already discovered that we taxpayers won’t know how much the companies working on behalf of the Treasury Department are being paid because that information is redacted.
More Financial Crisis Info
I heard about this site on the financial crisis during an episode of the Planet Money Podcast. They interviewed Simon Johnson (one of the co-founders) during “A Very Scary Cut–In The Interest Rate”. The Financial Crisis for Beginners may be the best place to start. Right near the top of that page, you’ll see links to both shows from This American Life I blogged about October 8 and May 28.