October 7, 2008

Some economists argue that changes in the stock market aren't a good indicator of Main Street's economic reality. But it certainly demonstrates that Americans aren't feeling confidence in their economy. That confidence slips even more when Federal Reserve Chairman says that the outlook for economic growth has worsened, as he did during a speech today.

So what does the future hold? Does the bailout plan just need more time to work, as President Bush argues? Or was it a mistake to go forward with the plan before a thorough investigation? Should we be focusing more on accountability for the forces that got us into this crisis in the first place? 

To open the hour, Marc speaks with Danny Schecter, author of Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and Subprime Scandal and editor of MediaChannel.org, where he blogs as "The News Dissector." Schecter also brought us In Debt We Trust,a film examining the relationship between Congress and credit card companies. We'll also talk with Stephen Shore, Assistant Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University.

After the break, we drop in on a practice session for the first live collaboration between two of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s percussionists, Brian Prechtl and Barry Dove, and Shodekeh, Baltimore’s own beatbox innovator extraordinaire. We hear a bit about how this project came to be and, of course, preview some of the sounds.