Inflation
Most economists agree that inflation of 2% or 3%
is a natural function of a growing economy.
But people are worried government stimulus measures could spark much
higher inflation |
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Interest
rates
Confused about the theory of how interest rates
can affect economic growth?
Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch is here
with a handy analogy |
Untangling credit default
swaps
When the analysts and experts talk about the current financial crisis,
they often refer to "credit default swaps." So, what exactly is a
credit default swap? Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch goes to the
whiteboard for this explanation
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Over-the-counter
derivatives
Credit default swaps have worsened market anxiety because they are
conducted in the over-the-counter market, where regulations are few and
information about risk is often hidden. Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy
Hirsch explains
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"If the
American people
ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency,
first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations
that will grow up around them
will deprive the people of all their property until their children will
wake up homeless
on the continent their fathers conquered."
Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States
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Why 'bad
banks' might
be a good thing
Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's latest plan to get the economy moving --
and the risk involved. |
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Write-downs
markets have deteriorated, "write-downs" have figured prominently in
more and more corporate reports. What are write-downs all about?
Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains. |
Shadow
banking: still big,
still dangerous
The part of the financial system that lends the most money to America
remains almost untouched by regulation. It's shadow banking. |
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How the big
banks make
the big bucks
We keep hearing the banks aren't lending. The truth is they are
lending, and making a lot of money doing it, thanks in large part to
one very special borrower. |
Financial alchemy
Many asset-backed securities have been downgraded from AAA recently.
But at least one issuer has miraculously repackaged a downgraded deal
to make some of its bonds worth a AAA rating again. |
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PIIGS
Five little PIIGS. Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch
explains why problems with certain
European countries' sovereign debt
could blow the house down. |
A look inside
hedge funds
Hedge funds used to occupy a dark, undisturbed corner of the financial
world, but over the last year they've been thrown under the spotlight.
Still, many people don't know exactly what hedge funds are, or what
hedging actually means. Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains. |
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Counterparty risk
Europe is teetering on the edge of a credit crisis, and markets all
around the world are tumbling as investors worry about contagion. It's
all about banks not trusting each other, as Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch
explains. |
Mark to
market
There's a debate in financial circles over whether banks are unfairly
penalized by the requirement that they "mark to market" their holdings.
Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains what that term means. |
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Quantitative
easing
Now the Federal Reserve has effectively cut the target lending rate to
zero, it only has one more weapon in its arsenal. Quantitative easing.
Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains what this "nuclear option" it is,
and what the Fed hopes it'll do. |
Leveraging
and deleveraging
Leveraging -- or borrowing -- has been cited as one of the contributors
to the financial crisis.
Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains how the move to deleverage -- or
reduce debt -- is prompting
wild market swings and concerns about deflation |
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Beware
the carry trade!
With interest rates in the U.S. at historic lows, some economists are
worried that Americans involved in the carry trade could drive down the
value of the dollar. Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch explains
how the carry trade works, and why some people
are worried about its return to the markets. |
More videos in this
series here
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Business
& Economics 
