5 ms·

It's a little gimmicky, but I have to say that it is a clever bit of journalism that really helps to make the whole ordeal a slightly more understandable to les

by hvs 16y ago

It's a little gimmicky, but I have to say that it is a clever bit of journalism that really helps to make the whole ordeal a slightly more understandable to less financially literate (like myself).

goatforce5 16y ago
I'm repeating myself, but Planet Money's podcast is genuinely very good. It was spun out as it's own entity after an episode of This American Life about the financial crisis got really good feedback. They explain some fairly complicated financial stuff in an easy to understand way, without dumbing it down. They have lots of good, heavy-hitting guests on. Go subscribe to the podcast. It's free: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=94411890 http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=944...
- 16s 16y ago
  You should avoid everything that requires an expert "explaining" things in an "easy to understand way". Avoid religion and stocks markets. No one understands either. Both require a great deal of faith. And only a few people (ministers and stock brokers) proclaim to speak expertly on them... the rest of us just have to give them our cash and believe.
  - lmz 16y ago
    A lot of things fall into that category. Among others: computer programming, government bureaucracy, global warming. Should they be avoided too?
    - derefr 16y ago
      Creating government bureaucracy should definitely be avoided. We're stuck with inherently-complex problem domains of global climate and large-scale information manipulation, though.
    - lzw 16y ago
      Global warming.... A hilarious topic you hear a lot of lies about. It is actually a simple topic since the ear is getting cooler and it is easily proven. What's complicated is the extensive lengths the global warming religion will go to to try and pretend like this totally politically motivated movement has a relationship with science. It is amazing what you can get people to believe by constantly repeating unscientific claims and the mantra that "all scientists agree" even though in grade school you should have learned that this is not how science works. PT Barnum was right... I didn't believe it myself, until I tried to talk about global warming with NPR programmed automatons.
      - lmz 16y ago
        That may be true. Haven't looked into it myself. (I didn't downvote you BTW). I think the problem is that the world simply cannot sustain the entirety of its population living with first-world standards. Better medicine in developing countries makes this worse since they now have as many children as before, but more of them survive - taking up resources. The global warming alarmists are probably keen to bring down the standards of the first world and handing it over to the rest of the world via carbon credits and the like. That strikes me as a traitorous view to take given that most of them are from the first world.
- lzw 16y ago
  They're dumbing it down, but they are patronizing you so that you will feel smart...so you won't listen to someone who tries to correct the carefully planted misconceptions.
lzw 16y ago
Yep, all the best propaganda makes you think you're learning something while actually feeding you a careful set of lies to keep you from realizing the truth. Like the fact that Clinton and Bush causes this catastrophe, not the wall street banks, and at the federal reserve is a private bank ownd by the likes of goldman Sachs-- and that this whole thing was a scam to loot the public with the government and banks profiting handsomely from it for decades, while at the same time creating a crisis that allowed unprecedented illegal takeovers of competitors and now the federal reserve - a private corporation gets to regulate it's industry and force banks to merge on terms it dictates. But you will argue with me, even though you haven't studied finance or economics because you are yet another ignorant american leftist who listened to npr and now you think your educated. Indoctrinates is more like it. And while none of you can present counter arguments to my claims, which are factual and thus not disputable, I'm sure you will attack me personally and mod this post down, like you do every post of mine that doesn't agree with the herd mentality ....and go to sleep thinking you exercised your critical thinking skills. Here's a clue you will certainly ignore: if you engage in critical thinking, you can't stand to listen to NPR because it is such blatant and obvious political propaganda that doesn't stand up to scrutiny on the face of it. Of course you think that is an absurd thing to say, because the Matrix has you. You can't imagine a free life. Of course, not the guy I'm directly responding to, who mows,maybe his mind is not far gone.... But in general, this is the situation we fing ourselves in. And being totally mislead about the 2008crisis, you're ready to be fucked by the 2012 crisis.... Just like you knew nothing out enron but were certain there was no housing bubble in 2005.... Because you believed the lies NPR, et. Al. Told you about enron and your friends got rich flipping houses.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- hvs 16y ago
  I'm not sure if you think that this form of debate that you are engaging in is meant to attract people to your side, but as libertarian that leans towards the Austrian school of economics, I ashamed to have anyone like you on my side.
T_S_ 16y ago
A good test of journalism is how it reads when you are an expert in the the topic. It usually comes off sounding a little awkward. If there are no outrageous mistakes, then count it as a good article. After all, it is written by people who need to have expertise a mile wide and an inch deep.

by hvs 16y ago

It's a little gimmicky, but I have to say that it is a clever bit of journalism that really helps to make the whole ordeal a slightly more understandable to less financially literate (like myself).

goatforce5 16y ago

I'm repeating myself, but Planet Money's podcast is genuinely very good. It was spun out as it's own entity after an episode of This American Life about the financial crisis got really good feedback. They explain some fairly complicated financial stuff in an easy to understand way, without dumbing it down. They have lots of good, heavy-hitting guests on. Go subscribe to the podcast. It's free: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=94411890 http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=944...

16s 16y ago
You should avoid everything that requires an expert "explaining" things in an "easy to understand way". Avoid religion and stocks markets. No one understands either. Both require a great deal of faith. And only a few people (ministers and stock brokers) proclaim to speak expertly on them... the rest of us just have to give them our cash and believe.
- lmz 16y ago
  A lot of things fall into that category. Among others: computer programming, government bureaucracy, global warming. Should they be avoided too?
  - derefr 16y ago
    Creating government bureaucracy should definitely be avoided. We're stuck with inherently-complex problem domains of global climate and large-scale information manipulation, though.
  - lzw 16y ago
    Global warming.... A hilarious topic you hear a lot of lies about. It is actually a simple topic since the ear is getting cooler and it is easily proven. What's complicated is the extensive lengths the global warming religion will go to to try and pretend like this totally politically motivated movement has a relationship with science. It is amazing what you can get people to believe by constantly repeating unscientific claims and the mantra that "all scientists agree" even though in grade school you should have learned that this is not how science works. PT Barnum was right... I didn't believe it myself, until I tried to talk about global warming with NPR programmed automatons.
    - lmz 16y ago
      That may be true. Haven't looked into it myself. (I didn't downvote you BTW). I think the problem is that the world simply cannot sustain the entirety of its population living with first-world standards. Better medicine in developing countries makes this worse since they now have as many children as before, but more of them survive - taking up resources. The global warming alarmists are probably keen to bring down the standards of the first world and handing it over to the rest of the world via carbon credits and the like. That strikes me as a traitorous view to take given that most of them are from the first world.
lzw 16y ago
They're dumbing it down, but they are patronizing you so that you will feel smart...so you won't listen to someone who tries to correct the carefully planted misconceptions.

lzw 16y ago

Yep, all the best propaganda makes you think you're learning something while actually feeding you a careful set of lies to keep you from realizing the truth. Like the fact that Clinton and Bush causes this catastrophe, not the wall street banks, and at the federal reserve is a private bank ownd by the likes of goldman Sachs-- and that this whole thing was a scam to loot the public with the government and banks profiting handsomely from it for decades, while at the same time creating a crisis that allowed unprecedented illegal takeovers of competitors and now the federal reserve - a private corporation gets to regulate it's industry and force banks to merge on terms it dictates. But you will argue with me, even though you haven't studied finance or economics because you are yet another ignorant american leftist who listened to npr and now you think your educated. Indoctrinates is more like it. And while none of you can present counter arguments to my claims, which are factual and thus not disputable, I'm sure you will attack me personally and mod this post down, like you do every post of mine that doesn't agree with the herd mentality ....and go to sleep thinking you exercised your critical thinking skills. Here's a clue you will certainly ignore: if you engage in critical thinking, you can't stand to listen to NPR because it is such blatant and obvious political propaganda that doesn't stand up to scrutiny on the face of it. Of course you think that is an absurd thing to say, because the Matrix has you. You can't imagine a free life. Of course, not the guy I'm directly responding to, who mows,maybe his mind is not far gone.... But in general, this is the situation we fing ourselves in. And being totally mislead about the 2008crisis, you're ready to be fucked by the 2012 crisis.... Just like you knew nothing out enron but were certain there was no housing bubble in 2005.... Because you believed the lies NPR, et. Al. Told you about enron and your friends got rich flipping houses.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
hvs 16y ago
I'm not sure if you think that this form of debate that you are engaging in is meant to attract people to your side, but as libertarian that leans towards the Austrian school of economics, I ashamed to have anyone like you on my side.

T_S_ 16y ago

A good test of journalism is how it reads when you are an expert in the the topic. It usually comes off sounding a little awkward. If there are no outrageous mistakes, then count it as a good article. After all, it is written by people who need to have expertise a mile wide and an inch deep.