Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Recession Education

Lately, I've been too paralyzed by fear as I watch the economy collapse around our ears...I've barely known what to think let alone what to write. Oh, also...I've been working in Louisville, KY since August so I've been out of the NYC cheap stuff loop. So, I mark my return to RT! posting as well as my determination to UNDERSTAND this thing and GET THE BETTER OF IT with a referral to This American Life.

Most of you probably already listen to Ira Glass' slightly twee but always entertaining radio show on your local NPR channel...or perhaps, like me, you do the free weekly podcast.
I want to call out 2 particularly fantastic episodes that you can listen to for FREE.
In May, they aired Episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money which began to explain (for normal people) what the mortgage crisis is and how it happened.
Just a few weeks ago, Episode 365: Another Frightening Show About the Economy followed up with more explanation of what has been happening to the economy.

I urge you savvy RT! readers to listen to both shows - they do a great job of explaining how we got to this crisis without pointing fingers - just logical explaining.
After you listen to the This American Life shows, check out the Planet Money Blog and Podcast. Created by the same team that put together the TAL shows, the blog and the podcast are keeping up with the current economic situation in the same "info for the normal guy" manner.
Now that I'm more informed, I'm starting to creep out of my cave and into the (scary) light of life in a recession.