Planet Money

The Fed says it's going to buy over $1 trillion in mortgage backed securities and long term Treasury bonds to help get the struggling economy moving again. Alex Blumberg and David Kestenbaum explain how it's expected to help. We keep hearing about all these toxic assets on bank balance sheets, but we've still got questions. How much is out there and how bad is it, really? Mike Thompson of Standard and Poor's gives us an inside look. Plus: a visit to Detroit.

AIG CEO Edward Liddy testified on Capitol Hill today. Congress wants Liddy to hold back $165 million in promised bonuses, but Liddy says he can't. The conflict is raising questions about who actually owns AIG. Meanwhile, the anger towards the insurance giant has been dominating the headlines this week, but not everyone is seeing red. Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group says the government has much bigger fish to fry and that AIG outrage is a luxury we can't afford. Plus, who deserves more blame --Wall Street or Washington?

Outrage is mounting over news that AIG used millions of bailout money for bonuses, but what about the 90 billion that went to its trading partners? Adam Davidson tells us where we should direct our anger. Plus, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says the U.S. needs to honor its promises. Economist Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations says China has a lot to worry about.

Bernie Madoff woke up in jail today, after pleading guilty to 11 charges stemming from an enormous Ponzi scheme. How enormous? The most recent court documents put the figure at $65 billion. In another amazing Planet Money Radio Dramatization, Alex Blumberg, Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum act out a Ponzi scheme of their own. With a cameo by Harvey Pitt, former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who suggests that the estimate of $65 billion is "badly inflated."

Nationalizing banks wouldn't cripple the economy, says Raghuram Rajan, former IMF chief economist and current University of Chicago professor, but it would be a step too far. Plus: Martin Wolf of the Financial Times considers where to lay blame for the economic crisis, and commerical real estate guy Jim Parrack talks about the trick to fielding requests for breaks on rent in Oklahoma City.

When Joshua Bearman was a third grader, he got locked out of the lunchroom economy. His classmates piled their jazzed-up, sugarfied, food/not food snacks on the table and traded until the best junk won, while Joshua sat on the sidelines with the sardines and raisins his family sent. Then, one magical day, he dreamed up the delicious cake futures. Plus: The tax details of President Obama's plan to save the economy and the environment. And an laid-off intern architect fights off the blues.

U.S. unemployment hit 8.1 percent in February — unless you count the underemployed, too, in which case it's 14.8. Economist Howard Rosen of the Peterson Institute for International Economics takes your questions about the real picture, COBRA, and which industries might be hit next. Plus: Ken Rogoff of Harvard says the economy's not so bad, if you look back over eight centuries or so. And Planet Money editor Jonathan Kern reads his "Villanelle for Uncertain Times."

The Obama administration has repeatedly called nationalizing the banks the wrong approach. U.S. policy analyst Sean West of Eurasia Group says the White House is still leaving the door open to that option, but quietly. Plus: Defining the "velocity of money," and a listener checks in from his very good life.

Quick: If anyone had asked you six months which company Americans should save first in an economic crisis, would you have named AIG? As of today taxpayers are on the hook for well over $100 billion to prop up the ailing insurer. But what if the U.S. hadn't decided to rescue AIG? Gregg Berman of Risk Metrics considers an alternate scenario. Plus: Our search for new economic indicators leads to the New York Stock Exchange.

William Isaac calls himself the only person in America who has ever nationalized a bank. Isaac, who led the FDIC during the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s, doesn't recommend it. Plus: Economists reveal what they heard in Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's interview with Planet Money, and an architect watches her business disappear.

If any single human being stands at the center of the global economic crisis, it's U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. This afternoon, Geithner took his hands off the intricate machinery long enough for an interview with Adam Davidson. As you'll hear, the pairing of titan and reporter made for quite a dance. Bonus: Producer Katia Dunn describes the scene in Geithner's office, where an aide helped to keep the Treasury secretary on message.

If any single human being stands at the center of the global economic crisis, it's U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. This afternoon, Geithner took his hands off the intricate machinery long enough for an interview with Adam Davidson. As you'll hear, the pairing of titan and reporter made for quite a dance. Bonus: Producer Katia Dunn describes the scene in Geithner's office, where an aide helped to keep the Treasury secretary on message.

Citigroup spent the weekend in talks with the U.S. government over a plan to convert the taxpayers' holdings from preferred to common stock. Rolf Winkler of Option Armageddon walks guest host Uri Berliner through what that means. Plus: Janos Samu of Concorde Securities gives a brief history of Europe's own subprime crisis. And PTA president Caroline Raye makes up for shortcomings at an elementary school in Gainesville, Fla.

President Barack Obama this week unveiled a $275 billion plan to prevent homeowners from going into foreclosure. The questions now range from whether it's big enough to whether it's aggressive enough. Robert Shiller of the Case-Shiller Index calls it a crucial part of America's social compact. Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business fears it may not be tough enough to make banks or homeowners play. Plus: Your Twitter questions galore.

With some of the biggest U.S. banks looking, um, insolvent, we're hearing more talk about nationalizing them. Hey, it worked for the Swedes, right? Leif Pagrotsky, vice chairman of the Swedish central bank, says his nation isn't quite a perfect model for Americans. Bonus: Economist Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize, takes questions from the Twitter crowd.