A Four Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

MONEY, DEBT & UNBRIDLED CAPITALISM

Program 09-11-15-B

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The parallels between the recent financial meltdown and that of 1929 are striking. In both cases a financial bubble burst and led to a run on the banks. Both times the Federal Reserve made huge mistakes. So how close did we come to another Great Depression? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk about debt and runaway capitalism, and the four men to controlled the world's money supply back in the 1920s.

SEGMENT 1:

Liaquat Ahamed is a longtime hedge fund manager and the author of "Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World." He talks with Steve Paulson about the parallels between the recent financial meltdown and the events that led up to the Great Depression. Both situations involved bubbles, and errors by the Federal Reserve System.

SEGMENT 2:

Woody Tasch, chairman emeritus of the Investors' Circle, is the author of "Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered." He talks with Jim Fleming about the benefits of supporting locally produced agriculture and "green" companies. Also, Margaret Atwood is a celebrated novelist and an astute social critic. Her latest book is called "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth." She tells Steve Paulson that it's a mistake to think about debt as simply a matter of money. Debt is embedded in our psyche and rife in our literary and religious history.

SEGMENT 3:

Ayn Rand died in 1982 but she's going through a revival. Her books "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" still sell hundreds of thousands of copies. "The Fountainhead" also endures on DVD. And now there's a new biography by Anne Heller called "Ayn Rand and the World She Made." Anne Strainchamps talked with Anne Heller about her subject, the power of capitalism, and her appeal for young people.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 09-11-15-B.

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Books & CDs:

Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Penguin)
Margaret Atwood, Payback (Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth) (Anansi)
Anne C. Heller, Ayn Rand and the World She Made (Doubleday)
Woody Tasch, Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered (Chelsea Green Publishing)

Websites:

• Slow Money website:
  http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/

Music:

• After Ahamed:
  The Flying Lizards w/ “Money (That’s What I Want)”
  Empire Records
  
• After Tasch:
  Kenny Burrell w/ “Wavy Gravy”
  On “Midnight Blue”
  Blue Note Records
  
• After Atwood:
  Kenny Burrell w/ “Chitlins Con Carne”
  
• After Heller:
  Kenny Burrell w/ “Mule”

Distribution dates: week of 11/15/2009 - hour 2 click HERE for timings and cues

Listen!

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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