Understanding the Global Economy, 2008 Financial Meltdown, and our Economic Future

This topic is indeed a difficult one. You will see some of these ideas when you take AP Economics with Mrs. Duez when you are a senior. But, having a grasp of where the world is at today is not only helpful in our study of World History, it is definitely a fantastic idea if you want to live in this new world.

Here are some wonderful resources to help you. We will see some of these clips in class, others are too long to play during our study this week. We will definitely watch The Crisis of Credit on Monday after our quiz.

The Crisis of Credit
Understanding the Financial Crisis for Kids (And Adults)

Financial Times Graphic World - Website explanation (Video)
FT - The Global Economy
FT - The Recession & Recovery
FT - Money Talks

60 Minutes: An Imperfect Union: Europe's Debt Crisis
Ten European countries are in recession and three have needed bailouts to avoid default. How could this impact the U.S. economy?

Ted Talk: Martin Jacques: Understanding the Rise of China
Speaking at a TED Salon in London, economist Martin Jacques asks: How do we in the West make sense of China and its phenomenal rise? The author of "When China Rules the World," he examines why the West often puzzles over the growing power of the Chinese economy, and offers three building blocks for understanding what China is and will become.

Frontline: Inside the Meltdown (2008)
In March 2008 rumors swirl around a blue chip Wall Street bank, Bear Stearns. It's got huge exposure on subprime mortgages and other toxic assets.

Frontline: Breaking the Bank
FRONTLINE's Breaking the Bank tells the story of Ken Lewis' struggle to survive in this new financial order, where public outrage and government edicts are now as important to banking as shareholders and deposits. With his bank on the brink, Lewis now finds himself the subject of a shareholder revolt, congressional indignation, presidential pressure and the increasingly conflicting demands of private investors and government officials.

"This is more than a story about just one man or one bank," says producer Michael Kirk. "This is the story of the most important change in the relationship between government and private business in a generation."

Frontline: The Warning
In The Warning, veteran FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk unearths the hidden history of the nation's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the center of it all he finds Brooksley Born, who speaks for the first time on television about her failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multitrillion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008.