Writer's Block

Amazing NPR/NYT economy stories

Anyone who owns an iPod and is interested in the country's continuing economic crisis should be listening to NPR's ongoing Planet Money podcast. The series provides daily updates on events, and dissects important but complex economic issues in a way that is interesting and easy to understand.

NPR's Planet Money reporters have also done some excellent enterprise stories on how the impact of Wall Street's meltdown is being felt by real people in heartbreaking ways. A recent story looked at how five Wisconsin school boards pooled their money to invest $200 million for health benefits for retired teachers. The schools were told their money was going into safe corporate bonds. Instead, it was invested in some of Wall Street's riskiest assets, and the portfolio has lost over 90 percent of its value. The New York Times teamed up with NPR and published an in-depth story about the Wisconsin schools and the factors that led to their bad investments.