Listen to one of the the following This American Life programs which do a brilliant job of making the recent economic crisis comprehensible. Prepare 2+ pages of notes for submission (pause recording when necessary–this is complex stuff). Be prepared to present your findings in class.
Another Frightening Show About the Economy
Questions to Consider:
- Why did the financial markets recede in the past couple of years? Whose fault is this? To what extent is the U.S. government to blame for the crash? To what extent are credit-crazy Americans to blame? How important is it to assign blame?
- Are we amidst an economic crisis, a financial crisis, both or neither?
- Many people blame George W. Bush for the crash. Are there valid reasons to do so?
- Some suggest that the greed inherent in Western cultures make such economic crashes inevitable. Is this a valid assertion?
- Are economic crises in capitalism “natural”? Was this crash a “necessary market correction” as some suggest?
- What types of changes do we need to make to minimize the deleterious impact of market crashes? Are fierce regulations enough or do we require for systemic solutions?
