Tracking the Market Crisis

Facing a deluge of media coverage on the current market meltdown, we decided to wade through it all so you don’t have to. Check out the essential reading   we gathered on the topic. The articles, graphs and broadcasts listed on our scandal page were chosen because each describes a particular feature of the crisis – the origins, the major developments, the implications – in a clear and thorough way.

We’ve also renamed our old scandal on the subprime mortgage crisis to emphasize its broadening scope. We’re now calling the scandal, Market Crisis. Here’s the essential reading we put on the page:

• This American Life explains the subprime mortgage crisis in a broadcast called “The Giant Pool of Money.”
• The New York Times’ Roger Lowenstein explains how the three biggest credit rating agencies gave many securities backed by subprime mortgages their highest rating when in fact they were poised for disaster.
• Portfolio broke the story about Countrywide’s ‘Friends of Angelo’ program, which gave preferential mortgages to Sens. Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad, among other VIPs .
• The Washington Post explains how years of weak regulation and lax oversight helped bring about the crisis at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• The New York Times’ financial columnist answers FAQs on the Wall Street crisis and the government’s response.
• The Wall Street Journal goes inside the AIG Bailout ($).
• Two economists put the crisis on Wall Street in layman’s terms.
• A USA Today article explains how the Wall Street crisis will affect taxpayers, mortgage borrowers, retirement investors and others.

Check out the rest of our resource page on the Market Crisis.