Money talks

Continuing in the vein of the last post’s fact finding mission, This American Life has broadcasted a few episodes that focus on the financial crisis that we’re currently experiencing.

Other than giant, red numbers on the front pages, it’s hard to tell what exactly is going on and what the ramifications are to those of us outside of Wall Street.

The first episode was broadcasted before the crash of several banking institutions and delves into the mortgage crisis earlier this year. The second episode takes into account all of the recent events and attempts to illustrate the full story of why these stock giants are falling like dominos.

What these narratives do very well is connect all of the dots in ways that normally aren’t revealed on today’s mania-driven news channels. It becomes easy to see why things happened the way they did, but it also leads you to feel frustrated and outraged at the unabashed recklessness of these people’s greed.

I’m a lot angrier about this $700 billion bail-out since we’re essentially saving the asses of people who were keenly aware of the risks and fragility of their actions but were blinded by dollar signs. It doesn’t help that I’m reading stories about AIG’s executives partaking in a luxury retreat after being rescued by the government.

Obama’s proposals to instill more regulations resonate more with me now that I’ve seen what people do when left on their own.