Comm 439 economy-1

ECONOMIC CRISIS COVERAGE

By: Sarah, Brittney, Sam, Ahrang, Sahrish

Good Articles

• Honest and Accurate• Unbiased• Explain situation clearly• Provide historical context• Foresee future problems • Appeal to those who do have an economic

background as well as to those who do not

“Will the Housing Bubble Burst in 2007?” (Time, Feb. 22, 2007)

• Gauges buyer sentiment using real estate search/browsing patterns

• Increase in “homes for rent” searches• Increased traffic on home value sites like

www.zillow.com • Warning signs: “sell my house fast” and “avoid

foreclosure” searches

“With Fannie and Freddie, the US Is Bailout Nation” (September 11, 2008)

“With Fannie and Freddie, the US Is Bailout Nation” (cont.)

• “Americans not versed in financial- market arcana can be forgiven for scratching their heads at this time”

• Poses and answers questions– “What are Fannie and Freddie again?”– “How will this bailout affect my mortgage?”– “Who gained the most from this deal?”

“With Fannie and Freddie, the US Is Bailout Nation” (cont.)

• “By making more money available for mortgages, this should push the rate down even more…providing support to the reeling housing market”

• “There’s still a giant supply of unsold houses, and prices are still high relative to rents and incomes. So don’t expect a big housing rally.”

“With Fannie and Freddie, the US Is Bailout Nation” (cont.)

• “They got away with holding only tiny capital reserves to insure against losses.. because mortgages were supposed to be safe”

• “Central banks and investors throughout the United States and around the world… believe them to be virtually risk-free”- Paulson

• “Paulson felt he had little choice but to make perception a reality”

How Financial Madness Overtook Wall Street

• September 18, 2008 • Clearly outlines the course of the crisis • Easy to understand • No speculation for future

“How AIG Became Too Big to Fail” (March 19, 2009)

• Explained backgrounds of the AIG bail out, and quoted important figures’ interviews and statements

– Geithner, Liddy (CEO of AIG), Greenberg (former CEO), Bernanke, and Obama, etc.

• “… AIG had paid out $165 million in retention bonuses to executives at the unit that compelled the U.S. to bail out the company in the first place.”

– “The revelations of the ALG bonuses, like nothing else, seemed to finally tip the mounting public furor over corporate malpractice into a full-scale rebellion.”

“Although a CDS is an insurance policy, AIG was selling something far more exotic” and it was “the opposite of what insurance companies are supposed to do.”

“The main target for the opprobrium is Geithner. He still enjoys the confidence of U.S. allies abroad and understands the deeply complicated world of global finance far better than the lawmakers…”

Ben Bernanke Person of the Year 2009

• “His creative leadership helped ensure that 2009 was a period of weak recovery rather than catastrophic depression”

• Made mistakes, but helped economy more than he hurt it

Ben Bernanke: Person of the Year

• http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,57543987001_1948061,00.html