This American Life has done another great episode on the economy. On this one they take on the banking system and explain in layman’s terms why they are in deep doo-doo. After listening to it, I finally have a better idea of what are “assets” and “liabilities”. From the This American Life website:
The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. Our crack economics team, the guys who explained the mortgagecrisis, Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson are back to help all of us understand the news. For instance, when we talk about an insolvent bank what does it actually mean, and why are we giving hundreds of billions of dollars to rich bankers who screwed up their own businesses. Also, two guys go to New Jersey to look at a toxic asset.
