Hear: The Economics Of Cheating

What does economics hold for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford? Davis Turner/Getty Images

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford faced a decision last month -- stay home and fulfill his public and family roles, or sneak off to Argentina for a visit with his mistress. Sanford chose the latter, of course, and economist Tim Harford argues it must make some kind of sense. Harford writes the Dear Economist column for the Financial Times and is the author of the Undercover Economist.

-- Listener Eric Laube says he and his wife paid off their mortgage in Houston this spring. They love the feeling of being debt free. But they like the tax breaks that come with a mortgage, and it's got them thinking of taking out another.

Bonus: After the jump, a listener argues that a house may be a home, but it's not an investment.

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Laura Conaway

6:00 PM ET | 07- 1-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Paying It All Back

A crowd gathers for Bernard Madoff's sentencing. Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Does anyone really pay off a 30-year mortgage? NPR's National Desk Editor Steve Drummond asked Chana Joffe-Walt to find out, and after some digging, Chana found a couple that did just that. Tamar and Chris Pearsol of Seattle share the story of their mortgage.

-- Bernard Madoff's 150 years prison sentence is the big news of the financial world today, but is there anything new to say about Madoff? Curt Nickisch, of NPR member station WBUR in Boston, says so. The citizens of his hometown view today's events with a particular pride, Nickisch says, since the man who first alerted the world to Madoff's ponzi scheme was their own Harry Markopolos.

Bonus: Comments of the day, from the blog.

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Jacob Ganz

6:56 PM ET | 06-29-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Private Equity, Public Money

Empty stores along Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. S. Ira Grossman

 

On today's Planet Money:

Special guest host Lisa Chow of WNYC shares the story of a major pension scandal here in New York. Two placement agents, who essentially act as brokers between pension funds and Wall Street, are accused of taking kickbacks in return for providing special access to the state's pension fund. With the help of former comptroller Carl McCall, Chow explains why the relationship between private equity and pension funds is ripe for corruption.

The case has put a spotlight on the relationship between private equity and pension funds and it's raising all kinds of concerns beyond corruption. Since these funds are private, taxpayers don't know where the pension money is actually going. So what happens to the retirement of firefighters and garbage collectors if the private equity bubble pops? NYU Stern School of Business Professor Roy Smith explains how the two got together in the first place.

Bonus: A recession-worthy lunch deal in Paris.

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Caitlin Kenney

3:54 PM ET | 06-26-2009 | permalink

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Hear: 'When Money Dies'

The height of German inflation. natehofer via Flickr

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- When most Americans think about financial collapse, they flash back to the Great Depression. The Germans are haunted by another ghost -- hyperinflation. As countries around the globe pump money into the world economy to try to fix it, fears of inflation are once again growing. Josef Joffe, editor of Die Zeit, explains why history is haunting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

-- Unemployment is still climbing and that's left many people thinking about Plan B. Maybe you'd like to be a rock star or an organic farmer, but you're also probably thinking about that safety net job -- a job you could easily get if you were laid off. Listener Laura Weight gives us a reality check on why that safety job may not be as attainable as we think.

Bonus: The scene in Den Haag.

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Caitlin Kenney

6:33 PM ET | 06-24-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Visiting The OTS

More meat for less bacon. bucknam via Flickr

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- President Barack Obama's plan for overhauling regulation of the U.S. financial system calls for eliminating the Office of Thrift Supervision. David Kestenbaum visits the OTS to get the mood from employees, but only finds one person willing to talk, spokesman Bill Ruberry.

-- Last week's podcast about tariffs prompted a lot of you to ask "Are they really so bad?" Today economist Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute weighs in. Subramanian says ideally he'd like all tariffs to be zero.

Bonus: No more applications in Wooster, Ohio.

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Caitlin Kenney

6:35 PM ET | 06-22-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Crisis, Regulate, Repeat

Quitters in Ballard, Wash. Seven_Null7/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

We look back on the last century of banking regulation.

-- Chana Joffe-Walt leads a tour of Presidential responses to banking crises since 1907. Highlights of the trip include regulation posturing from Woodrow Wilson, FDR, George Bush and Bill Clinton, plus Alex Blumberg singing along with Lady Gaga.

-- Is regulation a necessity or an opiate of the market? Harvard Business School professor David Moss argues that those massive institutions that pose a systemic risk must be regulated. George Selgin, an economist at the University of Georgia, worries that the wrong kind of regulation can lead to even greater disaster.

Bonus: Comment of the week, after the jump.

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Jacob Ganz

6:37 PM ET | 06-19-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Reform School

No more fat wallets. Steve Rhodes/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

President Barack Obama unveiled his plan for overhauling regulation of the U.S. financial system. We get responses from:

-- Lobbyist Scott Talbott of the Financial Services Roundtable, who represents a lot of big banks and loves the plan.

-- Lobbyist Diane Casey-Landry of the American Bankers Association, who represents a lot of small bankers and thinks that for them, the plan creates costly redundant legislation.

-- Representative Brad Miller (D-N.C.), who says some redundancy is good -- it works for NASA's space missions.

-- Representative John Campbell (R-Calif.), who likes some of the plan but says it gives too much power to the Federal Reserve.

-- Columbia economist Charles Calomiris, who says the whole thing is a big disappointment.

Bonus: Photo evidence of boom times on the way, and a correction.

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Laura Conaway

4:53 PM ET | 06-17-2009 | permalink

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Hear: The Trouble With Tariffs

Grow. filmonger/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

You may have heard something about the new iPhone. But have you heard about the Harmonized Tariff Schedule? That's the giant book of guidelines by which import specialists like Brett Ewing and Jim Henderson classify everything from wood flooring to handheld gizmos for importing into the United States.

Their mission is to determine whether importers have paid the right duties on their goods, and whether exporters are illegally dumping their wares on the American markets. Economists say tariffs, their main tool, make things more expensive for everyone.

Bonus: View from a passing train.

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Laura Conaway

5:28 PM ET | 06-15-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Iran's Shi'a Economy

Voting in Iran. Majid/Getty Images

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Voters in Iran went to the polls today to decide whether President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would keep his job. The race between Ahmadinejad and his main challenger was tight, and the deciding factor may end up being Iran's economy. Sayed Mohsen Naquvi, a Shi'a Islamic scholar who runs the non-profit Independent Viewpoints, says that if you want to understand Iran's economy, there's one book you need to read. Plus, fact-checking the particulars of a voluntary tax system with Alex's father-in-law.

-- Your private investment in outer space doesn't have to be limited to paying $12 to see Star Trek. Planet Money intern Matt Katz visited a Space Business Conference in New York and says that the 257 billion dollar industry attracts everyone from wealthy space-obsessed geeks to investment analysts from Morgan Stanley.

Bonus: a listener indicator from Boston, by way of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

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Jacob Ganz

4:03 PM ET | 06-12-2009 | permalink

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Hear: GM Loves Bankruptcy

And so good for you, too. Benet Wilson/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Bankruptcy is a wonderful tool, says GM CFO Ray Young, whose company is now in Chapter 11. And hey, it went so well for Chrysler.

-- If you happen to be one of the jilted creditors, bankruptcy doesn't seem quite so wonderful. Clown Mandy Dalton says a mall operator that went bust still owes her $200 for a family fun day. She talks it over with bankruptcy lawyer Jay Strock.

Bonus: Twitter crowd lobs questions at GM CFO Ray Young, after the jump.

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Laura Conaway

4:30 PM ET | 06-10-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Buying The Vote

Voting in Lebanon. Sana Tawileh

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Voters in Lebanon picked a coalition backed by the U.S. over one supported by Hezbollah in elections on Sunday. In the weeks before the vote, Ben Gilbert of Executive magazine (paid sub. requ'd.) says he began hearing reports of people offered plane tickets and even cash to vote a particular line. Gilbert says both sides seem to have been courting voters, at an eventual cost of $1,000 a vote. He explains the economics of buying someone's ballot.

-- An economic puzzle: Automakers wring bigger profits out of bigger vehicles like trucks, SUVs and the GM Hummer, but why? Robert Frank, a Cornell economist and author of The Economic Naturalist, says the dismal science explains everything. Frank answers the Hummer riddle in three and half minutes.

Bonus: Paying more for car repair?

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Laura Conaway

5:40 PM ET | 06- 8-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Secrets Of The Watchmen

Outside Boston, a shuttered mortgage services store. Chris Devers/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

We're launching our fourth special this weekend on This American Life -- on some stations, you can start hearing it as early as tonight. The show is all about the people and agencies who were supposed to be watching out for the economy, and why all that watching somehow failed to stave off the financial crisis.

Chana Joffe-Walt and David Kestenbaum reveal two fascinating bits you won't hear anywhere else. The first concerns Darrel Dochow, a regulator whose tenure stretched from a bank at the heart of the Keating Five scandal to the collapse of IndyMac. The second is about Mabel Yu, a bonds analyst who tried to warn her company to stop buying mortgage-backed securities.

Plus, an interview with Jon Swan, one of the Harvard students behind the MBA Oath, and a farewell to our fabulous editor Jonathan Kern, who's retiring. He has some advice for you.

Bonus: Deer on the lawn as economic indicator.

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Laura Conaway

12:56 PM ET | 06- 5-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Fat Cats Too Fat

Anybody want an overpaid job? aimeesblog/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

If you've felt, say, in the last nine months or so that people who work on Wall Street make too much money, we've got a guest for you. Ariell Resheff, an economics professor at the University of Virginia, says you're right, and he can prove it.

On the other hand, we got a message on our apology line (202.371.1775) from a mortgage industry veteran who says he's at least a little bit responsible for the financial crisis. And he's not sorry.

Bonus: Psychic foreclosure detritus for sale in Seattle.

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Jacob Ganz

3:45 PM ET | 06- 3-2009 | permalink

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Hear: You're A Car Mogul

From the Literary Digest for Jan. 10, 1931 Boats-n-cars

 

On today's Planet Money:

Congratulations, Americans, you're on the road to car company ownership. General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection today, in a deal that calls for the U.S. government to own 60 percent of the automaker.

That works out to something like an investment of $192 per taxpayer.

NPR's Frank Langfitt says two big questions remain: When will GM make money again, and how much will the United States lose?

Bonus: A postcard from a past you maybe never knew.

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Laura Conaway

5:17 PM ET | 06- 1-2009 | permalink

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Hear: N. Korea's Hidden Market

On a tour of North Korea, "silly white folks 'working with the people.' " North Korean Economy Watch

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- When you arrive as a tourist in North Korea -- yes, it's been done -- they don't tell you the news, says Curtis Melvin. They tell you the state of the economy. And yes, they do have one. Melvin knows because he tracks it on his blog, North Korean Economy Watch. His biggest boosts come from YouTube and Google Earth, which let him watch what passes for economic development.

-- The "efficient market" hypothesis holds that everyone trading stocks is generally trying to take in the same information about companies, and the result of all that thinking is the price of stock. The efficiency of the market makes it hard for any individual to beat the market over the long haul. So why would anyone pick stocks at all, or listen to a professional stock picker like CNBC's Jim Cramer? (Further fun: Video of Cramer rebutting an academic study of his performance.)

Bonus: Paycheck bounces, life falls apart and video of a North Korean market

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Laura Conaway

4:54 PM ET | 05-29-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Listen To Your Parents

No commerce in Columbus. daneyocco/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Chrysler went to bankruptcy court in New York City today. At issue was the question of whether Chrysler can sell a significant portion of itself to the Italian automaker Fiat. As Frank Langfitt tells us, there's much more at stake, not just for Chrysler, but for GM and the future of American capitalism.

-- Jim Higgins has a lot to lose from Chrysler's bankruptcy. The Chrysler dealership he works for, in Fairfax, Virginia, learned this month that it's among the 789 the company plans to close.

-- Think your elders are more frugal than you? Listener Jean Jakab commented on the blog that her son, Steve Jakab, had just lost his job and was floundering, and that all you really needed to do was be careful with his money like Mom and Dad. We got Jean and Steve on the phone, and lo and behold, Steve was already following their advice -- and had been for a while.

Bonus: A indicator from academia.

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Laura Conaway

4:38 PM ET | 05-27-2009 | permalink

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Hear: And Three Baby Camels

Happy holiday: Lemonade stand, reinvented, in San Francisco's Mission District. Jim Bourke

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- On Monday, Jeff Nielsen told us about the trouble he'd had getting his mortgage reworked. He couldn't get an answer back from Wells Fargo, though his situation would seem perfect for President Obama's new program to keep people in their homes. After that podcast, wonder of wonders, Neilsen got a break.

-- Shipping executive Per Gullestrup wanted to rescue a crew of sailors from pirates demanding $7 million ransom. He ended up forging an unlikely business relationship with the negotiator, "Mr. Ali," marked by mutual respect and the gift of newborn livestock.

-- A haiku medley, written by you.

Bonus: Eating your own eats.

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Laura Conaway

4:14 PM ET | 05-22-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Where It All Began

Paging John Mellencamp. brandonshift/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Imagine this whole darned economic crisis, or at least a major strand of it, started at a pink hotel in Boca Raton. A bunch of bankers from JPMorgan met there in 1994 to consider the future, and decided credit derivatives were it. Gillian Tett, the Financial Times writer and author of Fool's Gold, says the rest is history, miserable history.

-- How much would you pay to keep your job? Margaret Schultz works as a management consultant with General Motors dealerships. In December, she learned that her position had been given to a former manager, whose own gig had been cut. There was still a job for her -- three hours away from her husband and two young kids. Now she's staying in the new town three days a week, where she rents an apartment for $350 a month.

Bonus: A roast beef indicator.

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Laura Conaway

6:00 PM ET | 05-20-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Your Future Mortgage

In Chicago, who's telling whom? katherine_of_chicago/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Three months ago, Jeff Neilsen sat in his Salt Lake City living room and listened to President Obama announce a new program for homeowners who need to rework their mortgages. He applied to his lender, Wells Fargo, and heard almost nothing. Julia Gordon of the Center for Responsible Lending says his experience is all too typical. She suggests the system is plainly broken.

-- In the U.S., 6 million homeowners are flirting with foreclosure. NPR's Chris Arnold reports that in half those cases, foreclosure appears to benefit no one involved -- not the families and not the banks. With Alex Blumberg, he visits one loan servicer, Ocwen, that reworks 75 percent of its troubled mortgages, as opposed to the industry average of 10 percent. (Chris and Alex produced a segment about this for This American Life.)

-- Firefighter Bob Greiner works at a station in the Chicago suburb of Niles, where he reports a remarkable change since the recession began.

Bonus: You've been approved!

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Laura Conaway

5:24 PM ET | 05-18-2009 | permalink

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Hear: They Know You

Credit card companies love people who buy the best for birds they don't own. S and C/Flickr

 

On today's Planet Money:

Credit card companies have decided to become your friend, before it's too late. If they chat you up instead of sounding threatening when you call, they figure, you might pay them back first. That's the message from New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg, who just published What Does Your Credit Card Company Know About You?

While they're getting friendly with you, credit card companies have managed to learn a thing or two about exactly your ways. For starters, they're never happier than when customers buy premium bird seed, or put their kids' pictures on their credit cards. But if they hang out at Sharx, an upscale pool hall in Montreal? That's bad news.

With a special guest appearance by Laura Roberts, who has hung out at Sharx once or twice but prefers another place.

Bonus: Their last dollar.

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Laura Conaway

3:42 PM ET | 05-15-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Scandals To Remember

An inventory glut in the 206. Seven_Null7/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- What happens when you take giant international corporations and try to give them a single regulator? Mike Roster, a bank regulatory lawyer, says you get a whole lot of folks being overly polite. Part of the problem, Roster says, is that people too quickly forget the disasters of the past.

-- Before there was Bernie Madoff, there was Ivar Krueger. In his new book, The Match King: The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals, Frank Partnoy reveals a riot of scandal that we'd all do well to remember.

Bonus: The full interview with Elizabeth Warren, and, after the jump, a Prius dilemma.

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Laura Conaway

5:47 PM ET | 05-13-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Follow Suit

Dreaming of a green New Deal. Steve Rhodes/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- The Planet Money crowd had a lot to say about our interview with Elizabeth Warren, most of it negative. Twitter pal Renee Rico takes the soapbox.

-- One set of not very popular folks is now suing another. It's bond insurer MBIA versus financial giant Merrill Lynch. At issue: whether the latter misled the former into selling insurance way too cheaply. Securities lawyer Zachary Rosenbaum decodes the briefs.

Bonus: Voters send Ohio school district an economic indicator.

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Laura Conaway

6:00 PM ET | 05-11-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Elizabeth Warren Checks In

Elizabeth Warren chairs the Congressional Oversight Panel. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- We're going to file this one under Intense Planet Money Interviews. Bailout monitor and Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren sat down with Adam Davidson this week and went at least 15 rounds over what's really wrong with the economy and what should be done to fix it. Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, says the problem is as much a credit crisis as a slide in conditions for average American families.

-- Engineer Jocelyn Lally works for a big firm in Chicago, where she says several of her colleagues have recently been made part-time. The resulting quiet has led to an unexpected economic indicator.

Bonus: From Philadelphia, a living indicator.

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Laura Conaway

5:00 PM ET | 05- 8-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Regulate Me, Baby

In Philadelphia, "they even took down the letters." Brady Dale/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

In the best tradition of The Bachelor, financial institutions get to choose from a small flock of regulators. Those regulators collect fees for their work, so they're hot to woo potential companies. The Planet Money Players, with special guest Dina Temple Raston, show you how it's done as they vie for the affections of one Adam Isaac Gavidson, better known as AIG.

Bonus: A listener indicator from the office.

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Laura Conaway

4:58 PM ET | 05- 6-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Fears Of A Clown

Funky shoes: $300 Clownsoport

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Figuring a little cushion couldn't hurt, West Virginia's Centra Bank borrowed $15 million from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Then CEO Douglas Leech decided TARP's restrictions weren't worth the hassle and moved to repay the money. Getting out cost the healthy bank $750,000, for complicated reasons. Now David Kestenbaum has the chance to live his radio dream: Stopping his NPR story midway so he can explain it for the rest of us.

-- When the Treasury announces the results of the banking stress tests this week, says Douglas Elliott of the Brookings Institute, we'll be looking at numbers based on a lot of information and a slew of judgment calls. Elliott, who's got a new paper out on the tests, says the real test for the economy isn't the toxic assets, but the growing defaults on far more ordinary loans.

-- It's tough out there for a clown. Mandy Dalton takes apart the business of buying $300 shoes for entertaining kids in the middle of a deep recession and a swine flu panic.

Bonus: The corporate tax loopholes President Obama wants to close.

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Laura Conaway

5:50 PM ET | 05- 4-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Blame The K-Car

Once the savior of Chrysler, now resting in Curtin, Ore. Curtis Gregory Perry/Flickr

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Chrysler headed for bankruptcy today, pushed there by President Obama in the latest twist in the surreal saga of the American automobile industry. NPR's Frank Langfitt checks in from his rounds of UAW union halls, where we hear from a Chrysler worker who says the cars his company makes just aren't good enough. Another worker says he's surprised a UAW health care trust fund ended up as a majority owner of the company, since he sat through days of votes on wage concessions without hearing a word about it.

-- We asked whether you bore any blame for wrecking the global economy, and whether you were up for apologizing on our Planet Money apology line. You were. We're leaving the line open at 202.371.1775.

Bonus: Selling the K-Car.

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Laura Conaway

4:36 PM ET | 05- 1-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Nassim Taleb Checks In

Sending a message in Chicago. Patrick Hogan/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- This week Nassim Taleb, the economist who lives by the Black Swan Theory, joined Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group and The Fat Tail in our studios. Taleb's message to the world goes like this: Never mind math to manage risk. End the bond industry. And render Wall Street as we know it illegal.

-- Noel Paterson got laid off from the Microsoft games division in January. And then, miracle of miracles, Paterson got another gig, one he likes even better -- despite the small cut in pay.

Bonus: The card Paterson's kid made him, plus your ideas for naming the new Oliver Stone movie about Wall Street.

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Laura Conaway

4:46 PM ET | 04-29-2009 | permalink

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Hear: News Of Their Demise

Feeling it in Kansas City. JL Johnson

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Ryan Avent had a great job, writing for the Economist's Free Exchange blog. Not quite two weeks ago, Ryan Avent got lured into another terrific opportunity: blogging for Portfolio. Which today announced that it was shutting down.

-- At least Ryan Avent's got good company in the rest of the media. Newspapers around the country are cutting their staffs and trying to figure out how to stay afloat. NPR's David Folkenflik checks the future with media entrepreneur Steve Brill and media thinker Jay Hamilton

-- Did you help break the global economy, or even the local one? Planet Money has a new call-in line for your confessions. It's (202) 371-1775.

Bonus: The Ben & Jerry's effect.

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Laura Conaway

5:18 PM ET | 04-27-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Shadow Banking

Framed grafitti in Manhattan. Lindsay Collins

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- We dig a little deeper into the latest earnings reports from banks. Is it real or all a bunch of hocus pocus? Charles Peabody of Portales Partners tackles some of the real profits and says the good news is here to stay.

-- Mortgage backed securities have been blamed for causing this financial crisis. But have the current troubles been enough to kill off securitization all together? Joe Nadilo, managing editor of Asset Backed Alert, thinks not.

-- Listener Rick Alfaro has a serious problem. With help from Priya Raghubir, a marketing professor at NYU Stern School of Business, we try to help him solve it.

Bonus: An economic fable.

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Caitlin Kenney

6:05 PM ET | 04-24-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Pirates Have Timesheets

A pirate in the Gulf of Aden. ecpad/AFP/Getty Images

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner trekked back up to Capitol Hill this week, this time for a hearing with Elizabeth Warren's Congressional Oversight Panel.

-- Even pirates need a business plan. J. Peter Pham, an analyst of African affairs at the James Madison University, looks at the economics of guns, captains, and $2 million dropped into the sea in waterproof containers. Plus, Per Gullestrup, CEO of Danish shipping company Clipper Group, has dealt with pirates first-hand -- he says they're tough negotiators.

Bonus: An IMF chart challenge.

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Continue reading "Hear: Pirates Have Timesheets" »

Laura Conaway

5:18 PM ET | 04-22-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Who's Driving This?

Protesting a sales tax increase, maybe, in Bothell, Wash. /Seven_Null7 Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- The Obama Administration plans to convert its preferred stock in bailed-out banks to common stock. Simon Johnson, of Baseline Scenario (and now The Hearing, on the Washington Post's site), says it's mostly an accounting game, but one that signals the government's thinking about the health of banks.

-- General Motors announced 1,600 layoffs today, part of its efforts to stave off bankruptcy. But with the White House setting a deadline of June 1, says Steve Jakubowski of the Bankruptcy Litigation Blog, GM is not exactly in the driver's seat.

-- Ali Velshi's Gimme My Money Back: Your Guide to Beating the Financial Markets showed up at the office recently. Mike Pesca reviews it, with gusto.

Bonus: What the heck is glabrous?

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Laura Conaway

5:51 PM ET | 04-20-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Listening To Profits

Tax Day Tea Party, San Francisco Steve Rhodes/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

(Note: If you're having trouble with the player above, try the direct link.)

On today's Planet Money:

-- Major American banks have begun reporting, of all things, profits! Doug Elliot, former investment banker at JP Morgan and now banking expert with the Brookings Institute, reveals what you should make of those numbers. Hint: We're all still looking at a world of pain, but at least the decline seems to be leveling out.

-- Daniel Cross designs circuits for a struggling business that feels to him like a zombie company. Waiting for word of their fate hasn't been easy, he says, and the situation wasn't improved by a recent e-scolding from the supervisors.

Bonus: Y'all seeing what she's seeing?

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Laura Conaway

4:07 PM ET | 04-17-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Godzillions On Parade

'Cheap furniture gets a bailout.' brokenbulb/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- China's foreign reserves dropped by $32.6 billion in January. The New York Times suggests that because America's biggest creditor was selling off its bonds. Economist Brad Setser sees another explanation (and adds more).

-- Millions, billions, trillions, godzillions. There's a reason you can't keep it all straight. With help from Wisconsin school teacher Bob Peterson, the Planet Money Players calculate their way, in dollars per second, to the AIG bonuses.

Bonus: Find your NPR name, plus a listener calculates $1.7 trillion.

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Laura Conaway

4:47 PM ET | 04-15-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Too Big For That

Where'd the economy go? Bob Barsanti

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- The last time we talked about mark-to-market accounting, a whole bunch of you wrote back, "Enron." And you were right. Bloomberg columnist and former WSJ reporter Jonathan Weil reported in 2000 on how Enron used market-to-market to create mammoth earnings. Now Weil tells you why he thinks banks should have to stick with the system now.

-- Everything you want to know about a community, you can find out from its newspaper -- especially its classified ads. Bob Barsanti, a teacher, has been tracking the ads on Nantucket island with his classes. If you're looking to rent, he says, you're in luck.

-- A couple of execs from the Minnesota Federal Reserve wrote a book five years ahead of its time. Gary Stern and Ron Feldman's Too Big to Fail: The Hazards of Bank Bailouts hit the world in 2004. It's growing more relevant by the day.

Bonus: Tips from the SEC.

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Laura Conaway

5:37 PM ET | 04-13-2009 | permalink

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Hear: The Next Big Bailout

Looking for work in Manhattan. Caitlin Kenney/NPR/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- When you need help installing a giant computer system, you might call someone like Brian McCaffrey, and these days you might be looking to pay less for that help. The IT recruiter says he's seeing hourly wage cuts of 30 percent for skilled workers on big-ticket projects.

-- Another big bailout is on the way, reports the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ says the Treasury Deparment is now aiming to extend help to life insurers as part of the TARP program. It's a complicated endeavor, one that runs the gamut from your premiums to mortgage-backed securities. Rolfe Winkler of Option Armageddon walks us through.

Bonus: Commuters of the world, sing out.

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Laura Conaway

4:40 PM ET | 04- 8-2009 | permalink

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Hear: That Lime Green Coat

Looking for work in Washington State. GustavoG/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- What's a lovely coat in London got to do with delicious pita in Cairo? More than you might expect, as Chana Joffe-Walt discovers.

-- Until the financial crisis began, Brandon Mitchell had been happily freelancing as an IT consultant for years. Now his work has dwindled by 75 percent. Sara Horowitz of the Freelancers Union suggests its time for new ways of tracking, and helping, the nation's self-employed.

Bonus: Google toolbar suggests socialism.

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Laura Conaway

5:53 PM ET | 04- 6-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Accounting Rules

Neighborhood, interrupted. aimeesblog/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- World leaders emerged from the G20 summit with a $1.1 trillion plan for saving the global economy, plus a communique that talked like a Hallmark Card and walked like vintage John Wayne. The IMF got a ton of new money for helping poor nations. Continental Europe got a call for new financial regulation. The one big player who got almost nothing, says economist Adam Posen, was China.

-- Gather 'round, economy nerds. This week the Financial Accounting Standards Board gave banks a break from mark-to-market accounting. Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson tease apart the knotty questions of what this means, why this matters, and who won what.

-- Listener Aimee Ennis checks in from Clover, South Carolina, where her new neighborhood looks to be on hold and her home value maybe isn't what it used to be.

Bonus: Vending machine goes from dollars to coins.

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Continue reading "Hear: Accounting Rules" »

Laura Conaway

4:25 PM ET | 04- 3-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Banking On The FDIC

Reading your mind in LaBelle, Florida Brian Reed/NPR

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- The leaders of 20 nations walk into a room. . . .and solve the whole economic mess in a day. Don't laugh -- that's the aim of the G20 summit in London tomorrow. Adam Posen, deputy director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, helped the U.K. think through its agenda. He'll be sitting in the good seats all day Thursday. (More: Posen's group letter to the Financial Times, reg. req'd.)

-- For ordinary folks just trying to save money, feeling safe is all about the FDIC. Chana Joffe-Walt tracks an FDIC takeover of a failed bank (full tape). Then John Bovenzi, the FDIC's chief operating officer, tells us why his agency can still handle the load.

Bonus: Where are the women economists?

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Starship's "We Built This City." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr

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Laura Conaway

4:41 PM ET | 04- 1-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Save Me

Trading up. Beerzie Boy/Planet Money Flickr group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- President Barack Obama has a plan for the American automobile industry, as Chrysler and GM seek more loans from the government. Chrysler plant worker Joe Grassi considers the news that Washington wants his company to partner up with Fiat. Yale Law School professor Jonathan Macey says the government was right to ask GM CEO Rick Wagoner to step down, even if the request was unprecedented. Macey has been calling for Wagoner's ouster for months.

-- If Americans are saving too little and the Japanese are saving too much, how much would be just right? The market knows, says economist Kent Smetters of the Wharton school of business.

Bonus: What you've been reading today, after the jump.

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Continue reading "Hear: Save Me" »

Laura Conaway

5:44 PM ET | 03-30-2009 | permalink

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Hear: In Search Of Bad Guys

A never completed Sonic drive-through in Sacramento, CA. beerzie boy/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- The Treasury Department released a framework for regulating the financial industry this week. The plan calls for creating a systemic risk regulator to manage "certain large, interconnected firms and markets." While we still don't who is going to get the gig, the implications of the decisions they make will affect us for years to come. Adam Davidson lays out some of the possibilities.

-- How you react to the other plan the Treasury Department announced this week, the one to get toxic assets off bank balance sheets, depends a lot on what you think is the problem with the banks in the first place. Is it a solvency or a liquidity crisis? Gregg Berman of Risk Metrics Group explains the difference between the two, using $50 million and an envelope.

-- We've been looking for the bad guys in this financial crisis, but so far we haven't had much luck. Today we go to an expert, Neil Barofsky is the Special Inspector General for the TARP, the man charged with finding out who might be trying to defraud the government out of billions of dollars in bailout money.

Bonus: A letter from the Netherlands, after the jump.

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Caitlin Kenney

4:41 PM ET | 03-27-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Global Frustration

Hans Ohman and Kjell Persson employees of crane and forklift manufacturer HIAB in Sweden. The company just fired 200 people. Hasse Persson/Swedish Radio

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- We take another look at the Treasury Department's plan to help banks get toxic assets off their books. Adam Davidson breaks down three different theories on whether or not the plan will actually work.

-- Our global recession anger tour takes off -- with stops in China, Sweden and Egypt. In China, NPR correspondent Lisa Lim gives us the view from students and teachers at the China Center for Economic Studies in Shanghai. Sweden comes to us, when Swedish Public Radio reporter Linnea Ericsson stops by the studio to talk layoffs and unions. And from Egypt, Dr. Hani Henry shares the story of Cairo's own Bernie Madoff.

Bonus: Angry in New Zealand, after the jump.

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Caitlin Kenney

6:16 PM ET | 03-25-2009 | permalink

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Hear: A New Plan For Toxic Assets

This sign said 50% for only two days before 70% off sticker was pasted over it at lunch time. Alica Preston/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- The Treasury Department unveiled the details of a public-private investment program to help banks get toxic assets off their books today. The plan calls for using $75 to $100 billion from the TARP, Troubled Assets Relief Program, along with funding from private investors, to buy as much as $500 billion worth of these assets. In another Planet Money Radio Dramatization, David Kestenbaum and Caitlin Kenney explain how it's expected to work.

UPDATE: A clarification on our toxic asset theater.

-- The new program already has its critics, but Columbia Business School professor and former investment banker David Beim isn't one of them. Beim says he thinks it's a good plan for the country.

-- The success of the program has big implications for the Obama Administration and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. U.S. policy analyst Sean West of Eurasia Group tells us how he thinks it will play out, politically.

Bonus: Working together in Park Slope, after the jump.

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Caitlin Kenney

6:36 PM ET | 03-23-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Not So Toxic?

Going out of business in Oceano, Calif. Cordelia Roberts/Planet Money Flickr group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Alex Blumberg and David Kestenbaum break down the Federal Reserve's plan to inject over $1 trillion into the economy by buying mortgage backed securities and long term Treasury bonds.

-- Industries usually take years or decades to make major changes. That's not the case in today's economic climate. NPR's Frank Langfitt tells us just how fast things are moving in Michigan's auto industry.

-- There are still a lot of questions about toxic assets. How many are there? What are they worth? Who has them? Mike Thompson, a managing director at Standard & Poor's, takes a stab at answering a few of ours. The good news? Some of what we thought was toxic, might not be so bad.

-- The Planet Money team visited Capitol Hill this week to find out how Congress is dealing with the current crisis. Alex Blumberg sat down with California Republican Congressman John Campbell, who made a surprising admission: he's confused.

Bonus: In defense of bonuses, after the jump.

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Continue reading "Hear: Not So Toxic? " »

Jacob Ganz

3:31 PM ET | 03-20-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Pointing Fingers

Emptying the shelves in Coventry, UK. Gooner14/Planet Money Flickr group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- AIG CEO Edward Liddy testified on Capitol Hill today. Congress wants Liddy to hold back $165 million in promised bonuses, but Liddy says he can't. With the American taxpayers holding a nearly 80 percent stake in the company, some are asking -- can't we just force him to do it? Chana Joffe-Walt gets a shareholder's perspective.

-- The anger towards AIG has been dominating the headlines this week, but not everyone is seeing red. Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group says the government has much bigger fish to fry and that AIG outrage is a luxury we can't afford.

-- We've asked for your input on where to place the blame for the economic crisis. Jacob Ganz checks in on the debate over who deserves more -- Wall Street or Washington.

Bonus: An indicator from New Mexico, after the jump.

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Caitlin Kenney

6:30 PM ET | 03-18-2009 | permalink

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Hear: What They're Saying

Looking for work in Eugene, Ore. Andrew Black/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On today's Planet Money:

Outrage is building over AIG's plans to hand out millions of dollars in bonuses, after taking nearly $170 billion in government aid. President Obama is urging Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to do everything he can to stop it. But that's not the only thing making people mad -- others have criticized the insurance giant for paying out billions of bailout dollars to its trading partners, many of them overseas. Adam Davidson tells us where to direct our anger.

Meantime, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is expressing some frustration of his own, calling on the U.S. "to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China's assets." The country has over $500 billion in U.S. Treasury bills alone, and Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations says they've got a lot to worry about.

Plus: Yale professor Matthew Noah Smith plays the blame game.

Bonus: Seeds of the economic downturn, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: What They're Saying " »

Caitlin Kenney

5:10 PM ET | 03-16-2009 | permalink

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Hear: A Ponzi Drama

Not a house of cards, but still needs propping up girlonbike/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

Bernie Madoff woke up in jail today, after pleading guilty to 11 charges stemming from an enormous Ponzi scheme. How enormous? The most recent court documents put the figure at $65 billion. (NPR's Jim Zarroli describes the courthouse scene.)

In another amazing Planet Money Radio Dramatization, Alex Blumberg, Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum act out a Ponzi scheme of their own.

With a cameo by Harvey Pitt, former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who suggests that the estimate of $65 billion is "badly inflated."

Bonus: Comment of the week, after the jump.

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Laura Conaway

3:04 PM ET | 03-13-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Starting To Blame

Rent-to-own in Ireland. gr8angel8/Planet Money Flickr group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Nationalizing banks wouldn't cripple the economy, says Raghuram Rajan, former IMF chief economist and current University of Chicago professor, but it would be a step too far.

-- This week, Adam Davidson asked for your input on where to place blame for the economic crisis. Martin Wolf of the Financial Times reveals his answer.

-- When store owners run into trouble, they sometimes ask for a break on rent. Oklahoma City real estate guy Jim Parrack of Price Edwards and Co. tells us the trick to fielding requests.

Bonus: Unemployment by state, after the jump.

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Jacob Ganz

4:26 PM ET | 03-11-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Delicious Cake Futures

Looking in the 617. Ben Snitkoff/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- President Barack Obama has a plan for saving the economy and the environment at the same time. You just have to understand it first. Richard Harris takes us all to school.

-- When Joshua Bearman was a third grader, he got locked out of the lunchroom economy. His classmates piled their jazzed-up, sugarfied, food/not food snacks on the table and traded until the best junk won, while Joshua sat on the sidelines with the sardines and raisins his family sent. Then, one magical day, he dreamed up the delicious cake futures.

-- If you lost your job, and the people you called for help had just laid off 20 percent of their staffs, and a couple of hundred applications turned up nothing, what would you do? If you're intern architect Spencer Lepler, you dial back the job search, just a bit, and prep for that big licensing exam.

Bonus: A philosophical open question, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: Delicious Cake Futures" »

Laura Conaway

4:46 PM ET | 03- 9-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Job Loss City

Wondering in Philadelphia. BobMurken/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- U.S. unemployment hit 8.1 percent in February -- unless you count the underemployed, too, in which case it's 14.8. Economist Howard Rosen of the Peterson Institute for International Economics takes your questions about the real picture, COBRA, and which industries might be hit next.

-- Look, the economy is bad. It's even very bad. But if you gaze across the span of history, says economist Ken Rogoff of Harvard, this particular crisis starts to seem not so unusual after all. Rogoff talks about the ideas behind his paper, "This Time Is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises."

-- And seriously, the economy could be worse verse. That's what Planet Money editor Jonathan Kern tells us, in his villanelle for the economic crisis.

Bonus: After the jump, extra questions and answers from Howard Rosen, plus the full text of "Villanelle for Uncertain Times" by Jonathan Kern.

Continue reading "Hear: Job Loss City" »

Caitlin Kenney

4:16 PM ET | 03- 6-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Obama's Political Economy

Opportunity calling in Lakewood, Calif. BakerMonkey/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- President Barack Obama says the $787 billion economic stimulus plan will create jobs and help pull the country out of the recession. The exact amount of lift depends on a concept economists call "velocity." Ian Shepherdson of High-Frequency Economics catches up.

-- The Obama administration has repeatedly called nationalizing the banks the wrong approach. U.S. policy analyst Sean West of Eurasia Group says the White House is still leaving the door open to that option, but quietly.

-- Jason Bailey is living the good life in Greater Detroit. Seriously, he's got it lined up.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Irene Cara's "Fame." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr

Laura Conaway

4:50 PM ET | 03- 4-2009 | permalink

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Hear: What If We Let AIG Fail?

Calling on the main line in Fishersville, Virginia. BakerMonkey/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Quick: If anyone had asked you six months which company Americans should save first in an economic crisis, would you have named AIG? As of today, taxpayers are on the hook for well over $100 billion to prop up the ailing insurer. But what if the U.S. hadn't decided to rescue AIG? Gregg Berman of Risk Metrics considers an alternate scenario.

-- Our favorite economic indicator, the TED spread, has lately lost some of its luster. It's been stuck in the neighborhood of one, and yet the economic crisis drags on. Now we're starting a search for new indicators with one from currency strategist of Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman: margin debt at the New York Stock Exchange.

Bonus: A TED spread question, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: What If We Let AIG Fail?" »

Laura Conaway

5:04 PM ET | 03- 2-2009 | permalink

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Hear: He Nationalized A Bank

Architect's February cover asks, "Fees: How low should you go?" Sent by Connie Holloway

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- William Isaac says he's the only person in America who has ever nationalized a bank. Isaac, who led the FDIC during the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s, doesn't recommend it. (Isaac's WSJ op-ed.)

-- Ever since U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner gave an interview to Planet Money this week, listeners have debated whether he said anything of substance. Now three economists -- Amir Sufi, Russ Roberts and Simon Johnson -- reveal what they heard.

-- Architect Celeste Lewis runs her own shop in Portland, Ore. She says business has almost dried up, and the end may not be far.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: M.I.A.'s "Hussel." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr

Laura Conaway

4:09 PM ET | 02-27-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Geithner's Stress Test

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Win McNamee/Getty Images

 

On today's Planet Money:

If any single human being stands at the center of the global economic crisis, it's U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. This afternoon, Geithner took his hands off the intricate machinery long enough for an interview with Adam Davidson.

As you'll hear in the podcast, the pairing of titan and reporter made for quite a dance.

Bonus: Producer Katia Dunn describes the scene in Geithner's office, where an aide helped to keep the Treasury secretary on message.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Franz Ferdinand's "40'." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr

Laura Conaway

5:30 PM ET | 02-25-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Sink Or Swim

New economic scale in San Francisco. Steve Rhodes/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Citigroup spent the weekend in talks with the U.S. government over a plan to convert the taxpayers' holdings from preferred to common stock. Rolf Winkler of Option Armageddon walks guest host Uri Berliner through what that means.

-- Eastern Europe owes banks in Western Europe something like $1.5 trillion. As economies stumble in the former Soviet bloc, those banks have gotten distinctly nervous. Janos Samu of Concorde Securities gives a brief history of Europe's own subprime crisis.

-- Caroline Raye serves as president of Glen Springs Elementary School in Gainesville, Fla. This year, as supplies ran low, her role including funding a request for classroom paper.

Bonus: After the jump, an Oscars indicator.

Continue reading "Hear: Sink Or Swim" »

Laura Conaway

4:39 PM ET | 02-23-2009 | permalink

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Hear: The Obama Plan

Mad in Philadelphia. BradyDale/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money, a look at President Barack Obama's plan to prevent foreclosures.

-- The president's $275 billion proposal may not be big enough, but it's a necessary part of America's social compact, says economist Robert Shiller of the Case-Shiller Index.

-- The proposal is big enough to make a difference, says Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. But it may not be tough enough to make banks or homeowners play.

-- Twitter Questions! Amir Sufi sticks around to answer your 140-character queries about the foreclosure plan.

Bonus: After the jump, the full Twitter Questions session.

Continue reading "Hear: The Obama Plan" »

Laura Conaway

4:13 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Swedish Massage

Seeds of a recovery?

jtred23/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- President Barack Obama unveiled his $75 billion plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, and economist Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago hears one word over and over and over.

-- With some of the biggest U.S. banks looking, um, insolvent, we're hearing more talk about nationalizing them. Hey, it worked for the Swedes, right? Leif Pagrotsky, vice chairman of the Swedish central bank, says his nation isn't quite a perfect model for Americans.

-- Paul Krugman won the 2008 Nobel Prize for economics, teaches at Princeton, writes a column for the New York Times, and fields your questions over Twitter.

Bonus: Blog comment of the day, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: Swedish Massage" »

Laura Conaway

4:15 PM ET | 02-18-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Pay Up -- Or Else

San Francisco gets serious.

Steven Rhodes/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- That's a ransom note, said Simon Johnson of Baseline Scenario, after reading an analyst's call for the U.S. to pay top dollar for toxic assets -- or else. Johnson and Adam Davidson call up the person who wrote it, Joseph LaVorgna of Deutsche Bank.

-- Adam put himself through a viewing of The International, a supposed thriller. For real edge-of-your-seat cinema, he says, listen to this tale from John Moscow.

Bonus: Blog comment of the week, after the jump:

Continue reading "Hear: Pay Up -- Or Else" »

Laura Conaway

3:40 PM ET | 02-13-2009 | permalink

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Hear: How To Save A Bank

Target's post-holiday sale made for "one happy toddler."

David Woodruff/Planet Money Facebook group

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- When the previous Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, announced his plans for saving the economy, professor Jeremy Siegel of Wharton gave him an F-. We asked Siegel to grade the performance of the new Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner.

-- Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg pick apart the Geithner plan, starting with the question of what it really takes to rescue a bank.

Bonus: A note from a mom, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: How To Save A Bank" »

Caitlin Kenney

4:31 PM ET | 02-11-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Get Tougher, Please

Back to the mattress in London.

Dan McNamee

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- With more than $800 billion in federal spending on tap, Selectman Erik Filkorn says people in his Vermont town are hoping at least some of the economic stimulus money would help rebuild their roads and bridges. Filkorn himself isn't counting on it.

-- On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is expected to unveil the government's latest plan for helping troubled banks. Early reports say it's something of a public/private partnership. Economist Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute says the big problem is that American leaders still are getting flexing enough muscle.

Bonus: A note from the U.K., after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: Get Tougher, Please" »

Laura Conaway

4:14 PM ET | 02- 9-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Pajama Party

It's on sale, what there is of it, in Flushing, New York.

Sarah Goodyear/Planet Money Flickr group

 

Folks, we're on our way to tour one of the great centers of power in the entire universe. Barring an unforeseen uncontrollable urge to blog, we'll see you on Monday.

Today on Planet Money:

-- With unemployment at 7.6 percent in January, San Francisco radio station KGO-AM broadcast a special "sell yourself" segment in which people who'd lost jobs got the chance to pitch prospective employers. Host Ronn Owens says calls came in at the rate of six to eight per second.

-- Simon Johnson and James Kwak of Baseline Scenario published a terrific Planet Money primer this week, National Debt for Beginners. On today's show, Johnson talks about the fictitious land of Irresponsibilistan.

-- As the recession deepens, countries are considering fresh limits on trade. The U.S. Congress has been wrestling with a provision to have the stimulus package money governed by a "Buy American" rule, the idea of which raised anger around the globe. Meanwhile, a U.S. protectionist measure that targeted China but meant good news for Cambodia just expired.Rachel Louise Snyder, author of Fugitive Denim, reports it has do with pajamas.

Bonus: A good news letter, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: Pajama Party" »

Laura Conaway

12:50 PM ET | 02- 6-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Meet 'Bailout Bill'

Cold, hard cash.

Caitlin Kenney

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Hundreds of people lined up for free money in Times Square this week, telling their stories to "Bailout Bill" for a minimum of $50. It's part of a promotion for BailoutBooth.com, a new Web site for our time, or what amounts to an Internet pawn shop, or something.

We keep hearing from economists who say they don't much like the nearly $900 billion stimulus bill now before Congress. Kent Smetters of Wharton says just counting the money involved must have been mind-boggling. Then Steve Fazzari of Washington University calls it a disappointing, if standard, grab bag of programs. Your turn's in the comments.

Bonus: An indicator from an MBA student, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: Meet 'Bailout Bill'" »

Laura Conaway

4:13 PM ET | 02- 4-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Japan's Lost Lesson

"This doesn't seem like a good sign."

jmb_recommends/Planet Money Flickr group

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- The $800 billion stimulus bill now before Congress contains a little money for oversight of the spending -- a perhaps very little, reports Adam Davidson.

-- Japan spent the 1990s slogging through the economic doldrums. Economist Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute says the misery could have been cut to three years if policymakers had acted boldly. Posen, author of Japan's Financial Crisis and Its Parallels to U.S. Experience, says the Obama administration needs to get more aggressive with banks.

-- Last week, David Kestenbaum reported on a Finnish ad campaign that's urging folks to spend money in order to help the economy. Opponents of the message have started a Facebook group. Member Anu Partanen checks in. Bonus: A gallery of dueling save/spend ads.

After the jump, good news from Wyoming.

Continue reading "Hear: Japan's Lost Lesson" »

Laura Conaway

4:10 PM ET | 02- 2-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Obama Tests Keynes

Living room for $250.

Justin Ritchie/Planet Money Flickr group

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Justin Ritchie of Charlotte, North Carolina, bought the living room set pictured above from a Craiglist ad. The seller, he says, was a Bank of America employee who decided now would be a good time to return to India.

-- When Super Bowl 43 is finished, the host city of Tampa can expect to count up a $150 million boost to its economy. But economist Philip Porter of the University of South Florida tells Mike Pesca there's no way that's true.

-- President Barack Obama says that only government can pull America out of a recession this severe. Obama calls his plan for stimulus spending of well more than $800 million a new idea, but Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg say this kind of public spending relies on an old theory. John Maynard Keynes wrote it up in 1936 -- and this recession marks its first real-world test.

Bonus: Results of our Name the Crisis poll, after the jump.

Continue reading "Hear: Obama Tests Keynes" »

Laura Conaway

3:43 PM ET | 01-30-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Bad As They Want To Be

A much quieter shop in Hamilton, Virginia.

Richard Patnoe (letter after the jump)

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- David Specht of Shelburne Falls, Mass., delivers today's Planet Money indicator. It has to do with sawdust and why his family started rationing it.

-- U.S. officials are considering a new plan for saving troubled banks: create one big "bad bank." The idea, explains economist Larry Ausubel, is to launch a single institution charged with mopping up the toxic assets and selling them off. Ausubel has been testing a way of pricing the stuff no one seems to want. Bonus: Simon Johnson's "Bad Banks for Beginners."

-- From his plans for a $10 million bonus to his $1.2 million office renovation, ex-Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain has become a leading villain of the financial crisis. Adam Davidson and Portfolio blogger Felix Salmon. Bonus: David Folkenflik asks "What's John Thain saying?"

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Regina Spektor's "Better." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Bad As They Want To Be" »

Laura Conaway

4:00 PM ET | 01-28-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Don't Call It A Crisis

Protesters outside Iceland's Parliament, 01.20.09.

Scarndp/Flickr.

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Iceland's government became the second to fall as a direct result of the economic crisis. Icelandic National Broadcasting's Bjorn Malmquist reports on what some are calling a revolution.

-- Russians have gotten almost accustomed to an economy that grew rapidly, until this year, that is. Now, as David Kestenbaum reports, people there are struggling with what to call the new economic climate. Andrei Illarianov, former adviser to President Vladimir Putin and now of the Cato Institute, says neither media nor the government wants to call it a crisis.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: The Streets' "Everything Is Borrowed." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:51 PM ET | 01-26-2009 | permalink

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Hear: A Forced Vacation

Keep looking in Texas.

Joey Castillo/Planet Money Facebook Group.

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- The last time we heard from Noel Paterson, the Microsoft worker was driving the backroads of Washington State, picking up cheap electronics he found on Craigslist. Now, he checks in from his new post on the economic frontier. Paterson was one of 1,400 people Microsoft laid off this week.

-- Which would you rather have happen to you -- a layoff, a pay cut or a furlough? As companies look for ways to slash costs without canning workers, more of you are reporting that you're being asked to take short periods off without pay. Listeners Elizabeth Call and Daniel Cross wonder what will happen next, and economist Howard Rosen worries.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Arcade Fire's "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

2:25 PM ET | 01-23-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Banks Need More

Seen in New York City

Margaret Fields/Planet Money Facebook Group.

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Treasury Secretary-designate Tim Geithner took questions today on Capitol Hill. Dan Costello boils it down.

-- The U.S. federal government has thrown hundreds of billions of dollars at banks, but the banks say they're still in trouble. What will it take to save them? Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, says about $1.5 trillion, maybe -- whatever it costs for Plan A plus Plan B.

-- Bank lobbyist Scott Talbott says his industry is willing to trade more government oversight for more government help. He's not crazy about nationalization, but he doesn't rule it out, either.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Tegan and Sarah's "Where Does the Good Go." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:43 PM ET | 01-21-2009 | permalink

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Hear: The First 100 Days

Short circuit in Cleveland, TN.

Girlonbike/Planet Money Flickr Pool.

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- President-elect Barack Obama begins his first 100 days in office on Tuesday. Historian Eric Rauchway guides us through the first 100 days by which all other 100 days are measured -- the start of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency. Rauchway is the author of The Great Depression and The New Deal: A Very Short Introduction.

-- Listener Nathan Fiala says he's found a bright spot in the dismal U.S. economy. It's his hometown, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Anthony Hamilton's "Do You Feel Me." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Caitlin Kenney

1:30 PM ET | 01-19-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Mixed Signs Of The Times

Looking in Fort Myers, Fla.

Sign by Scott Somerfleck. Photo by dlambros/Planet Money Flickr Pool.

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- The TED spread finally dropped below one this week. John Ewan, director of the British Bankers Association, helps us throw a party -- starting with the LIBOR dance.

-- Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group and Ken Rogoff of Harvard lead our search for somewhere, anywhere in the world where you won't feel like the economy is crashing around you. How about Liberia?

-- After eight months of looking for a job in computers, Scott Somerfleck of Ft. Myers, Fla., has taken to putting up signs around town. He tells us why.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: The Bird and the Bee's "Polite Dance Song." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

2:09 PM ET | 01-16-2009 | permalink

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Hear: The News Today, Oh, Boy

The lucky ones at this tech firm got pay cuts.

Listener letter after the jump.

 

A number of listeners have asked us to look at what's happening inside our own industry -- media. Magazines have been shutting down, newspapers are canceling home delivery and furloughing staff, publications are moving online, radio networks are laying off workers. Which is just the half of it, really.

Today on Planet Money:

-- A newspaper carrier says the print edition he delivers is now too light for him to throw it onto porches properly.

-- Economist Anita McGahan, author of How Industries Evolve, studies what's known as punctuated change. She says the line between shifting and dying is not always apparent, at the time. But the first company to figure out what comes next wins.

Continue reading "Hear: The News Today, Oh, Boy" »

Laura Conaway

3:49 PM ET | 01-14-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Can I Borrow $20?

The new fashion in Kansas City, Mo.

Twitter listener @user47

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- For Terri Weiss, the first sign of trouble at her job was that the company quit paying for coffee service in the office kitchen. The next was a ping in her inbox. Add another body to Dayton, Ohio's unemployment line.

-- If you can't get a loan from a bank, maybe you can get one from your friends or family. That's the idea, loosely, behind a peer-to-peer lending site like Prosper.com. Clay Shirky, New Media professor at New York University and author of Here Comes Everybody, says it appeared to be working, at least until the SEC shut it down.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Erin McCarley's "Pony (It's OK)." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:22 PM ET | 01-12-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Where Are The U.S. Dollars?

Not playing in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

NPR's Caitlin Kenney, Planet Money Flicker group

 

The unemployment numbers we've waiting for all week have come in, and my goodness. We're talking 7.2 percent, the highest since January 1993.

In other news, Adam Davidson wants to win the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Podcast. If you like us, please vote for us.

Today on Planet Money:

-- Tradition Asiel Securities trader Will Aston-Reese gives the view from his desk. (It's a little better!)

-- On Thursday, we presented a puzzler: Where is all the U.S. currency? Today economists Richard Porter and Ken Rogoff fire up an amazing answer.

-- Listener Sophia Suhu got laid off the night before she dialed in for an Economist House Call. Now she has a puzzler of her own: What's a person gotta do to get a low-wage job anymore?

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Hole "Credit in the Straight World." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:19 PM ET | 01- 9-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Are Central Bankers To Blame?

Graffiti near Canal Street.

tmonkey/Planet Money Flickr group

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Economist Russ Roberts doesn't support president-elect Barack Obama's fiscal stimulus package. He talks about what it was like having the president-elect pitch the plan on his home turf, George Mason University.

-- Stanford professor John Taylor of the Taylor Rule thinks the government made some major mistakes in dealing with the current financial crisis. And he isn't shy about talking about them.

Bonus: Read Professor Taylor's analysis of what the government got wrong.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Young Jeezy's "Put On." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Caitlin Kenney

6:27 PM ET | 01- 8-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Russia, Russia Everywhere

Lighting up in southern Algeria.

Geoff Porter, Eurasia Group

 

Today on Planet Money:

If you're an American and your gas stove won't light, you start by calling a repair company or checking to make sure you paid the bill. If you're a European, you might start by blaming Russia.

Russia's state-owned Gazprom appears to have cut the supply of gas to neighbors from Romania to Austria. It's the second time in recent years that Russia has turned off the spigots. Meanwhile, in Africa, Nigeria is burning off 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year -- because it has no way to ship the stuff to market.

As Eurasia Group analyst Geoff Porter tells it, some in Europe would like to build a pipeline from Nigeria through Niger and Algeria, then across the Mediterranean to France. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but one player has shown some interest in the region -- Russia's Gazprom.

After the jump, more photos from Porter, plus a map from Eurasia Group.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Mates of States "Get Better." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Russia, Russia Everywhere" »

Laura Conaway

4:57 PM ET | 01- 7-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Staring At The Job Market

Seen at a Brooklyn hot dog shop.

Bronwen Stine

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Pam Olson in Centerville, Ohio, checks in with a Planet Money indicator.

-- Roger Lowenstein's While America Aged sees doom in the pension system. Mike Pesca reads it for you.

-- Economist House Call! Renee Edlund, 26 and living in Houston, takes a hard look at the job market with help from economist Simon Johnson of Baseline Scenario.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Alphabeat's "Fantastic Six." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

3:32 PM ET | 01- 6-2009 | permalink

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Hear: If FDR Had Done Nothing

Freezing in Allston, Mass.

Grandwazoo/Planet Money Flickr group

 

Today on Planet Money:

With the incoming Obama administration planning a $700 billion economic stimulus, the question now is whether a wave of government spending will revive the economy.

For answers, we turn to the example of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. If you're like me, you first encountered FDR in history class as the hero of the Great Depression. Lately, though, some people have renewed debate over whether FDR and the New Deal saved America or made matters worse.

We'll start with historian Eric Rauchway, who considers a world in which FDR had done nothing.

Bonus: Rauchway's got a blog and a new book, The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Paramore's "I Caught Myself." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:48 PM ET | 01- 5-2009 | permalink

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Hear: Fight Night

Slim pickings.

Ron Deutsch/Planet Money Facebook group

 

Today on Planet Money:

Planet Money listeners have sometimes hopped all over us for using too many free-market economists. Now, David Kestenbaum sets one free-market thinker against an ideological opposite. These two forces have had only one proper fight -- the Great Depression. Both claimed victory.

Now, in one corner, it's Russell Roberts, an economist at George Mason University, who believes the economy works best when government stays out of it. He likes the Austrian School of economic thought.

In the other corner, it's Steven Fazzari, an economist at Washington University in St. Louis. He believes the government plays a key role in the economy, especially when it comes to recovering from recessions. He describes himself as a Keynesian.

Which of these mighty warriors is right? Your future could depend on it.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:33 PM ET | 01- 2-2009 | permalink

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Hear: The Lessons Of JFK

1962: President Kennedy talks with media mogul Rupert Murdoch (right). At left is Zell Rabin, editor of the Sydney Daily Mirror

Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 

Today on Planet Money:

Stop me if you've heard this one before. An incoming president faces a downturn in the economy. He gathers the best and brightest economists, and they get to work on a stimulus program of government spending. No, we're not talking about President-elect Barack Obama. We're talking about President John F. Kennedy, whose policies author Robert J. Samuelson says ultimately backfired.

The Washington Post op-ed columnist looks at the long-range consequences of Kennedy's deficit spending. Samuelson, author of The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath, says even the smartest folks make mistakes. The worst of it, he argues, is that you sometimes need decades to see the effects.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: T.I.'s "Live Your Life." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:20 PM ET | 12-30-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Passive? Aggressive.

Housing slump: Pitching Japanese model homes in Nishinomiya.

WRH/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Satyajit Das says the old economic order got obliterated this year, but the new one's not yet in place. Until that happens, he argues, no one really knows what to do.

-- Bill Bernstein, neurologist and genius economic historian, has an idea. Bernstein backs a style of playing in the market called "passive index investing."

After the jump, links to books about economics by Bernstein and another smartie.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Gnarls Barkley's "Run." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Passive? Aggressive." »

Laura Conaway

4:57 PM ET | 12-29-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Scenes From A Recession

Click for full picture.

Christopher Dael

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Adam Davidson visits Frank Caracciolo, owner of the Universal Printing Company in Brooklyn, New York. Carcciolo says business is down, but you may be suprised at who's still buying big.

-- Listener Christopher Dael of Riverside County, Calif., says his local mall's tree looks nothing like the ones in years' past. What's up with that? (The 2006 tree is after the jump.

-- Putting off the purchase of a big flat-screen TV? You're not alone. Chana Joffe-Walt of KPLU says the decline in sales is having an unexpected -- and unwelcome -- effect on recycling.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Scenes From A Recession" »

Laura Conaway

5:40 PM ET | 12-22-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Bailout Mystery Revealed!

Who was that masked man?

Getty Images

 

Call it a mystery solved. We've been promising to figure out who slipped language into the $700 billion bailout that allows the federal government to buy stock in banks. Now, we deliver.

Today on Planet Money:

-- David Kestenbaum reveals all, in conversations that include lawmakers Spencer Bachus, Barney Frank and Jim Moran. It all happened on the floor of the House of Representatives. Hear the 70 seconds that may have changed the course of a nation.

-- Bonus: Why did U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson need all those M&Ms?

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Marnie Sterns's "Every Single Line Means Something." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

6:08 PM ET | 12-19-2008 | permalink

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Hear: About That Pay Cut

Sales don't mean much if you've got no job.

Getty Images

 

Listeners have been writing in this week about their experiences with falling wages. Now let's dive deeper into what those stories might mean.

Today on Planet Money:

-- A book editor in the Northeast says his company just cut his wages -- and a lot of other people's -- by five percent. He says the idea is to avoid layoffs.

-- Economist Howard Rosen of the Peterson Institute says the actual data on wages is mixed. He's more troubled by signs that the economy is still contracting, with many millions of people unemployed and major manufacturers putting everything on hold.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: KT Tunstall's "Hold On." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

6:38 PM ET | 12-18-2008 | permalink

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Hear: A Time To Be Reckless

Seen in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Michael Thompson/Planet Money Facebook group

 

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to the lowest on record. On Wednesday, we sort through what, exactly, that means.

Today on Planet Money:

-- Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, explains what the federal funds target rate is, why anyone would want to change, how you do that, and what it means. Bonus: He loves the reckless feel of it.

-- But listener Joel Weyrick of Iowa still wants to know: Why would the Federal Reserve set a range for the new target rate, instead of just announcing a new solid number? Is this part of a new strategy?

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Robyn Hitchcock's "I Often Dream of Trains." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

6:22 PM ET | 12-17-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Madoff's Method

Seen in Lynwood, Mass.: Frothy market.

Anesly Alvear Bravo/Planet Money Facebook group

 

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to the lowest on record. Which got everyone's interest, no? Today on Planet Money:

-- Other falling numbers: U.S. housing starts and consumer prices. Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics, says the bottom is turning out to be lower than he'd expected. And then there's the question of deflation.

-- Two words: Bernard Madoff. And three words: split strike conversion. Madoff, of course, is the New York investment manager accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Defining the split strike conversion falls to economist Perry Mehrling of Barnard College. He breaks down the complicated trades that might fuel a fund like Madoff's.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Opening clip: Stuart Hoffman, chief economist from PNC Financial Services/AP interview. Intro music: Lil Mama meets Marnie Stern for "Absorb the Lip Gloss." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:49 PM ET | 12-16-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Don't Call It A Hedge Fund

Not in the background anymore: Bernard Madoff (right) on Capitol Hill, 1993.

AP Photo

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Ecuador became the first country to default in the credit crisis, though the reason may have more to do with the political of President Rafael Correa than with a lack of money.

-- New York fund manager Bernard Madoff stands accused in a $50 billion federal investment fraud that threatens to wipe out private individuals, banks and hedge funds around the world. As blogger Felix Salmon of Portfolio explains, Madoff wasn't running a hedge fund himself -- and things might have turned out better if he had been.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Bloc Party's "Helicopter." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:38 PM ET | 12-15-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Too Big To Fail, Take Two

Too hot to fail?

Doskophoto/Flickr

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Jay Rosen wants to know why, when the Senate spikes a rescue for U.S. automakers, Japanese stocks go down. One answer comes from Vinny Catalano, president of Blue Marble investment firm and keeper of a cool blog.

-- Automakers in Detroit say they're too big to fail. As business historian John Steele Gordon tells David Kestenbaum, we've heard that one before -- from the U.S. steel industry.

-- Last year, Adam Davidson went to Pittsburgh to see what remained of the steel industry and its workers. Also, to find out what a "cake eater" might be.

After the jump, a letter from Utah.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Get the opening clip in full. Intro music: The Breeders' "Flipside." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Too Big To Fail, Take Two" »

Laura Conaway

5:27 PM ET | 12-12-2008 | permalink

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Hear: A Banker In Amish Country

Click to view.

David Gilkey/NPR

 

You've been asking for good news. We've got it, or at least what passes for it, today on Planet Money:

-- Will Aston-Reese, a money trader with Tradition Asiel Securities in New York, says he sees signs of thawing in the credit markets. He does! He does!

-- The Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Penn., almost never use credit. The one exception is when they buy a farm, and for that they turn to Bill O'Brien. The mortgage banker says he has never lost money on an Amish deal, though he does put a thousand miles a week on his car.

After the jump, a letter from someone who's doing OK.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: A Banker In Amish Country" »

Laura Conaway

6:03 PM ET | 12-11-2008 | permalink

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Hear: A Personal Bailout

For sale in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Clay Bosler

 

Today on Planet Money:

-- Amie Cohen bought a house just before the market tanked. Now back in school, she keeps up with the monthly note-- painful as it is. She asks a question shared by countless other homeowners: Should I get quit paying the mortgage and get help in the $700 billion bailout?

-- Economist Amir Sufi makes the case for homeowners staying the course if they can. Sufi likes the government's plan for helping them do that, but he can't help noticing which group gets help first.

After the jump, a listener writes about his personal response to the economic downturn.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Get the opening clip in full. Intro music: Massive Attack's "Silent Spring." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: A Personal Bailout" »

Laura Conaway

6:43 PM ET | 12-10-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Money For Nothing

Seen in Georgia.

Joe Windish

 

Big news today for the economy: The interest rate on a four-week Treasury bill went to zero (some say it went even lower). That means people were so frightened of putting their money into other investments that they are now willing to lend to the U.S. government money for no interest at all. They just want someplace safe.

And don't we all. Welcome to the second day of our look at the big consequences of small decisions. Today on Planet Money:

-- Ian Shepherdson, of High Frequency Economics, says this recession looks like no other downturn, at any time in history or place on the globe. Must be time to experiment.

-- Lately Noel Paterson has changed his ways. Paterson, who works for Microsoft in Washington State, switched from buying TV and game consoles in stores and started picking them up on Craigslist instead. His pre-Christmas shopping has given him a particular glimpse of the recession as it's lived out there.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Nirvana's version of "The Man Who Sold the World." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:14 PM ET | 12- 9-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Priced To Move

Eric Hansen has something that fits you.

NPR

 

You're standing in a store, looking at a rack of jeans. You need new ones -- most of us do, sooner or later. Feeling worried or guilty or bored, you settle on later.

That small moment becomes part of the larger economic scene. Taken together, your decisions and everyone else's are reshaping the world we live in -- for better and for worse. This week, we'll be tracking the outsize consequences of small choices. (After the jump, a listener checks in with his strategy.)

Today on Planet Money:

-- Bronwen Stine of Brooklyn says money's fine at her house. So why has she -- like so many others -- cut back on spending?

-- Eric Hansen, senior vice president of Moda America, distributes clothes from Ungaro, JC de Castelbajac and DKNY. But when people stop shopping, the stores stop ordering more. This week, Hansen is selling surplus suits and assorted gimmes at sample sale downstairs from our office. Adam Davidson came back with a passel of duds, and a story.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: MGMT's "Time to Pretend." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Priced To Move" »

Laura Conaway

5:41 PM ET | 12- 8-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Layoffs Are Good For Us

Inquire within.

FAIL Blog

 

How better to end a week of looking at the nature of jobs than with a look at what happens when jobs end? There's certainly plenty of that going around. And believe it or not, many economists say there's a silver lining. They do. Really.

Today on Planet Money:

-- Ian Shepherdson, of High Frequency Economics, says the latest unemployment figures show an economy in free fall. The U.S. lost 533,000 jobs last month, and Shepherdson says the news may be worse than that.

-- Krista Summitt of North Carolina lost her job as a Web marketing strategist. Summitt has been chronicling her adjustment to this new life on her blog, the Downsized Diaries.

-- Joe Grassi of Michigan works on a Chrysler assesmbly line -- when he hasn't been laid off. Now his friends, working people, are accepting charity clothes for Christmas.

-- Don Boudreaux, a professor at George Mason University, speaks for many economists when he says that layoffs are a necessary part of a healthy economy. If companies can't lay people off, he says, they won't hire them, either. Boudreaux blogs at the libertarian-minded Cafe Hayek.

-- Summitt and Grassi say exactly what they think about that idea.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Dropkick Murphy's "The Warrior's Code." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:06 PM ET | 12- 5-2008 | permalink

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Hear: The Mystery Of Jobs

Taped to a car at a football game.

SvobadalT/Flickr

 

Continuing our series on the nature of jobs, we look at the statistics about working. Layoffs clocked in a tad lower than expected last week, with 509,000 new jobless claims. Are things getting better already? Most people say no.

-- Economist Karl Case, of Wellesley, tells us it's almost impossible to know how many people are working in the United States -- or how many wish they were.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Dolly Parton's "9 To 5." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:14 PM ET | 12- 4-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Can Anyone Make Jobs?

A job fair for veterans in New York City.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

 

Today on Planet Money:

We continue our theme about the nature of jobs -- what they really are, where they really come from and whether the government can really create them.

-- Economist Russell Roberts, of George Mason University, takes a whack at job-creation programs like President-elect Barack Obama's. Roberts says the billions of dollars involved get shifted from other parts of the economy, so the net effect is minimal.

-- Phil and Jenn Sandifer get an Economist House Call from Simon Johnson of MIT. The Sandifers, graduate students at the University Florida, own their home and are worried about selling it when they find teaching jobs -- if they find teaching jobs.

-- Listener Michael A. Goldsmith asks where new money comes from. (And wouldn't we all like to know.)

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: The Raconteur's "Salute Your Solution." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

5:47 PM ET | 12- 3-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Cousin 'Knows Best'

Construction workers keep on trucking.

Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

 

We don't usually listen to our family members when they offer financial advice. But what happens when your family member happens to be Planet Money host Adam Davidson? Does that mean you have to listen?

Adam's been telling his cousin, DJ, that he's facing economic danger for years. Now, with the help of a finance expert, he finds out it may not be so bad.

Today on Planet Money:

-- Finance professor Pietra Rivoli makes a housecall for Adam and his cousin DJ.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Caitlin Kenney

6:15 PM ET | 12- 2-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Money Goes Haywire

Bank on it.

Jessica Goldstein/NPR

 

We can all stop tiptoeing around the "R" word. Today the Bureau of Economic Research officially declared that not only is the U.S. in a recession, but it has been in one since December 2007. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a year.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is sending signals that it might take its benchmark rate below 1 percent. You'd have to look back half a century for money that cheap.

Today on Planet Money:

-- David Kestenbaum delivers the absolutely final word, forever, on whether your gift card will be worth anything if the store goes out of business.

-- We continue our series on the nature of money, with economics professor Steve Hanke. The Johns Hopkins fellow studies what happens when money goes bizarre, as it has with hyperinflation in Zimbabwe.

-- Listener Jerry Cosgrove posed a brainteaser about where the money goes when you sell your house for less than you paid for it. With help from Laura Sullivan of NPR, Russ Roberts of George Mason University, and a Monopoly game, we figure out Cosgrove's puzzle.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:44 PM ET | 12- 1-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Money Is As Money Does

The cart where Ash works.

Alan Cordova/NPR

 

Today on Planet Money:

President-elect Barack Obama picks Paul Volcker to lead the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Meanwhile, Adam Davidson buys a hot dog. It's all part of our continuing coverage of the economic crisis and the nature of money.

Note: Happy Thanksgiving! We'll blog a little over the next couple of days, then be back podcasting on Monday.

-- Ammon Shea, author of Reading the OED, defines "money." Literally.

-- Adam Davidson takes former Treasury Under Secretary Peter Fisher out for street food, plus a mindblowing curbside chat on which kind of money is what.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Ryan Adams "Come Pick Me Up." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

4:04 PM ET | 11-26-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Where Did The Money Go?

Click for annotated version.

Christy Cullen/Planet Money Flickr group

 

Today on Planet Money:

On Monday, we talked about money as a relationship. Today, we look at what happens when your sugar up and leaves. Where, oh, where did the money go?

Plus, a divine Economist House Call, and after the jump, links from you.

-- Renee Rico, a Presbyterian pastor in California, asks housecalling economist Simon Johnson about the church's annual pledge drive.

-- Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money, takes the one question that keeps on giving: Where did all the money go?

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Santogold's "Lights Out." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Continue reading "Hear: Where Did The Money Go?" »

Laura Conaway

4:37 PM ET | 11-25-2008 | permalink

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Hear: Money Is A Relationship

Drip, drip, drip. . .

Nathan Bowling

 

Today on Planet Money:

We spend a lot of time worrying about money, working for money, spending money, saving money -- but what, exactly, is money? Where does it come from? Where does it go? Today, we begin a series that we hope will answer those questions (and, you know, more).

-- Eric Rauchway, author of a new history of the Great Depression, looks at President-elect Obama's pick for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner.

-- Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money, defines money in a rather surprising way.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Flying Lizards's "Money." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Laura Conaway

6:03 PM ET | 11-24-2008 | permalink

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