So do you understand all this business with the banks? Everybody that I have asked up to this point has responded the exact same way to that question: "Does anybody?" This includes people whom I consider to be fairly "in the know" on financial matters, so it's a bit disconcerting to someone like me. I know I get a paycheck on the 15th and 30th of every month, but that's about the extent of my knowledge on how money works.
What has helped, though, has been a new daily series that NPR is producing called "Planet Money." From what I understand, the series was conceived from an episode that "This American Life" did when the whole bailout plan was first introduced to congress. The episode, appropriately titled "Another Frightening Show About the Economy," really spelled out in detail exactly what had caused this crisis, who was (and wasn't) to blame, and what leading economists think about the $700 billion plan. The Planet Money series is a sort of daily update on the topic, and really does a good job explaining the situation to people who don't have a financial background. The show's hosts, Adam Davidson and Laura Conaway, do a great job of finding people who do understand what's going on and asking them the same questions that you or I might feel embarrassed to admit we don't know, like where the money actually went. I've been listening to it daily, and I highly recommend checking it out if you're curious about what exactly happened and how the plan is working out.
Below I've added a couple of podcast episodes to get you started. The first is the "This American Life" episode that initially covered the crisis, followed by the first couple episodes of Planet Money that really address the core questions most people have about the problem. I hope you find it as helpful as I did.
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