Business & Economy

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.

Years before the current economic crisis, former derivatives trader Frank Partnoy warned about the dangers of tricky financial trading. He joins Fresh Air to explain how we got where we are.

Critic-at-large David Edelstein considers Paul Rudd's search for "bromance" in I Love You Man and the spy-romance of Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in Duplicity.

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.

Paul Eisenstein reports from the Detroit Auto Show on the state of the auto industry. Eisenstein has covered cars for over 30 years; he currently reports for the independent news service The Detroit Bureau.

Macroeconomist Dean Baker sees opportunity in the current economic crisis. In a recent editorial for The Guardian, Baker recommended that President-elect Barack Obama boost the economy by spending on national health insurance.

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

The price of gold has risen 235 percent in the past eight years, but as journalist Brook Larmer and photographer Randy Olson report in this month's National Geographic, the environmental and human costs related to the mineral have never been higher.

Journalist James Fallows explores China's recent rise to power and what it means for the US in his new book of essays, Postcards Tomorrow Square.

Congressional Oversight Panel chair Elizabeth Warren is charged with making sure the bailout funds are in the best interest of the American people.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson discusses the unprecedented collapse of Merrill Lynch, America's most famous brokerage house.

Beginning with the Democratic primary, president-elect Barack Obama's campaign did not waver in its focus on "change." Journalist Ryan Lizza argues that the constancy and simplicity of Obama's message allowed the candidate to turn his vulnerabilities into assets — and outmaneuver both Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

Journalist and economist Robert Kuttner has reported on elections for over three decades. His latest book, Obama's Challenge, looks at the many Herculean obstacles the president-elect faces — and what it will take to tackle them.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman believes that increased public spending — akin to the efforts of the New Deal during the Great Depression — is the best way to escape the financial crisis and regain American global leadership.

Much has been made of the effects the recent financial crisis will have on "Main Street." Linguist Geoff Nunberg. He discusses how this term gained such popular — and presidential — usage.

A fellow at Oil Change International and at the Institute for Policy Studies, she argues that the oil industry's grip on policy and government has never been stronger. She documents her concerns — and argues for remedies — in a new book.

In his new book, Wall Street: America's Dream Palace, Steve Fraser focuses on the lotus of the financial world, paying attention to four of its archetypal characters — the aristocrat, the confidence man, the hero and the immoralist.

An anti-social Goth gal-pal adds fun and a bracing feminist perspective to Stieg Larsson's witty, hard-boiled tale, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.