NPR-ockstars ...

since ive made it back to the states, and now find myslef in my car for nearly 10 hours a week fighting traffic between the baltimore and dc beltways, ive been treating my ears and mind to some wonderful new tunes, catchy mixes, and a plethera of podcasts from good ole 'ivan the ipod'. i find myself dabbling in ira glass's weekly radio powerhouse 'this american life' evey monday on my way to and from work, and its because of mr glass an co. that i stumbled upon the subject of this post and the 1st in my 'npr-ockstars' series; 'npr's planet money'

i 1st heard the 'planet money' folks on 'this american life' when they were brought on during the wall street panic that struck in the fall and sunk lehman brothers, put american insurance group (aig) on the ropes, and almost took down the global finacial system as we know it. if you can recall that time back in spetember the finace folks were talking about the sky falling and the end of the world while you and i were strolling around completely unphased, and its was this exact dichotomy that alex blumberg tackled in his shockingly easy to understand and follow account of the credit crisis and how close to disaster we were.

ever since then i have become a loyal listener to the 3 times a week podcast put out by mr blumberg, the darling ms chana joffe-walt, et al. th podcast is quirky, funny , and informative all at the same time. their 'indicators' moment for instance is almost always a laugh, but always strikingly relevent. the podcast has become a easily accesible way to understand what is happening around the global economy and why it is happening. 'planet money' is a hip alternative to cnbc/bloomberg/wallstreet journal which all of a sudden is making the likes of erin burnett, paul krugman, and jim kramer look like a bunch of squares.