Banks and Banking

ProPublica reporter Jesse Eisinger says that the government undermines the notion of equity and fails to deter crime when it allows large corporations to settle lawsuits by paying fines.

Author Lisa Servon says a growing number of Americans are giving up on traditional banks and relying instead on alternatives, including prepaid debit cards, check-cashing centers and payday lenders.

Gretchen Morgenson, financial reporter and business columnist for The New York Times, talks about efforts in Congress to regulate credit default swaps, which helped crash the banking system.

Economist Simon Johnson discusses the next phase of the financial bailout. In the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Johnson insists that the U.S. government will have to get rid of its "financial oligarchy" to regain economic stability.

Wall Street Journal economics editor David Wessel's new book, In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic, examines the expanding powers of the Federal Reserve in the face of the current economic crisis.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson discusses the latest news in bailouts and banking — including the recent revelation that insurance giant AIG plans to pay $450 million in executive bonuses.

The rate of home foreclosure is now three times its historic rate — "so large that it threatens the entire economy." Congressional Oversight Panel chair Elizabeth Warren discusses the problem — and possible solutions.

Simon Johnson, former research director of the International Monetary Fund, analyzes the bank bailout plan and its alternatives.

N. Gregory Mankiw is skeptical that a stimulus plan centered around a large up-tick in government spending will effectively bolster the economy.

With the markets in flux and a massive government rescue package in the works, New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson looks into potential conflicts of interest in the nearly $700 billion deal.

The bankruptcy of financial services giant Lehman Brothers and the 500-point drop in the stock market on Sept. 15 have sent shock waves through the financial community. Law professor Michael Greenberger discusses the potential ramifications of the recent turmoil.

Perplexed by the U.S. economy? You're not alone. Law professor Michael Greenberger joins Fresh Air to explain the sub-prime mortgage crisis, credit defaults, the shaky future of other types of loans and what we can expect from the U.S. financial markets.

Gretchen Morgenson, financial reporter and business columnist for The New York Times, talks about continuing fallout from the subprime lending crisis and how it's affecting consumers.

Producer/writer/director Jeanne Jordan. She and her husband Steve Ascher's documentary "Troublesome Creek" is the story of her family's struggle to save their Iowa farm, which had been in the family for 125 years. The film won the Best Documentary and Audience Awards at Sundance in 1996. The film opens nationally in January

Journalist Martin Mayer writes about finance, advertising, education and law, but his expertise is in finance. His written many books. His latest: "The Bankers: The Next Generation: The New Worlds of Money, Credit and Banking in an Electronic Age" is a rewritten, updated version of his best selling book on banking which he wrote 20 years ago.

Time magazine reporter Jonathan Beaty He was covering the BCCI bank scandal months before it erupted, and gives the background on the scandal.

Author Ron Chernow (CHUR-now). His new book is, "The House of Morgan: an American Banking Dynasty and The Rise of Modern Finance." Chernow examines one of the financing world's once most powerful institutions: the J.P. Morgan financing empire. And he traces the history of modern finance from the genteel, clubby world of banking to Wall Street of the 1980's when ruthlessness, and machismo became the rule.