Here's an April 15th interview on Terry Gross' NPR program, "Fresh Air" worth listening to. Terry asks questions of financial experts I've been burning to ask. She is the bomb. Click here to listen to the episode with Simon Johnson, former chief economist of International Monetary Fund, MIT Sloan School of Business professor, and blogger at baselinescenario. "Unless the U.S. breaks up its financial oligarchy, Johnson warns that America could face a crisis that "could, in fact, be worse than the Great Depression — because the world is now so much more interconnected and because the banking sector is now so big." Gross is such a good listener and smart. Here is an example: Minute 38:00, I'm surprised credit default swaps still exist since they have been so integral to the crisis. I'm so surprised they are still a driving factor considering how they've messed up the economy.
The interview addresses other excellent questions: why do banks like Goldman Sachs insist on paying back bailout money? Why is the Obama administration reluctant to let banks like Goldman give the money back? What to do about banks that are too big to fail? 9.00 minutes: Some people are concerned about the power of Goldman Sachs; Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson, Geithner's chief of staff, the new head of commodities trading commission. 12:20 Terry makes the excellent point that Goldman Sachs received 100 cents on the dollar for the value of their counterparty claims against AIG, when the taxpayer is only getting a fraction back. 14:30 Same interests who want to pay more money to bankers, got economy into trouble in first place. 17:00 What choices does Obama administration have to make about Goldman, and restrictions on compensation, now? 17:50 This is about telling the financial sector they do not run the country. 22:00 The free reign of derivatives. 23:00 My concern is about a few big financial players who remain. Goldman, JP Morgan, Citigroup. 26:30 Why should taxpayers be supporting the purchase of toxic assets.
1 comment:
Hey Gimlet:
We really like your blog and constantly forward your reports to our exec. producers.
And we're really glad you listen to, and are so enthusiastic about programs like Fresh Air and others that we broadcast.
But it would be really nice of you to give us credit and alert your readers that programs like Fresh Air, hosted by Terry - the bomb - Gross are broadcast every day on WLRN-FM, 91.3
I think we'd agree that in this information business, content is everything. So how about a little credit where it's due?
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