NPR: Listen Up: Economist Blames Election-Year Politics

Listen Up: Economist Blames Election-Year Politics

Filed under: Planet Money Podcast, Understanding The Crisis

Maybe that big: Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson explains the bailout.

Chris Kleponis/AFP/Getty Images

Just press play.

It's an unsettling notion, but economist Raghuram G. Rajan says the government appears to be acting out of panic in its move to bail out Wall Street. What's more, Rajan, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and current professor at the University of Chicago, says it looks to him like a case of politicians piling on to a quick solution in an election year.

Seriously, that's what he said. You'll find all that, plus his proposal for solving the financial crisis, in today's podcast.

If you were holding out for an answer about what the crisis means for the price of milk, it's toward the end of this edition.

Download the podcast here; subscribe here. Follow our Twitter feed here. (Music from Marnie Stern's In Advance of the Broken Arm.)

Laura Conaway

4:58 PM ET | 09-19-2008 | permalink

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If you like your podcast to be interrupted by interviewers who won't turn off their cell phones you'll love this one.

Sent by Richard Ackermann | 8:48 PM ET | 09-19-2008

Great show today! (even with the phantom ringing :)) Would love to hear Raghuram Rajan on again in the future.

Sent by jeremy | 10:36 PM ET | 09-19-2008

On the phone: I am sorry. Laura and I discussed whether or not we should edit that out.

We thought it gave a sense of how manic our days are--covering this crazy, fast-moving crisis.

But if it disturbed you, I'm sorry. Maybe we made the wrong call.

In normal times, I certainly will never have my cell phone in the studio.

Sent by Adam Davidson | 11:19 PM ET | 09-19-2008

C'mon people, turn OFF your cell phones or leave them OUTSIDE the room. I heard about this podcast because it was plugged on This American Life. If you want people to keep listening you've got to show some professionalism.

Sent by Jack | 4:56 PM ET | 09-20-2008

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