NPR’s “Planet Money” host Robert Smith said the evolution of the American economy requires every journalist to master the art of following the money, reports Rachel Jones of The National Press Foundation.
Jones reports, “He provided examples from his show, such as explaining the housing crisis through a plain-speaking subprime borrower named Clarence. During the 2008 financial crisis highlighted by the collapse of entities like Lehman Brothers, people like Clarence were buying houses and getting loans they weren’t really qualified for.
“‘A lot of people had told this story about, well, mortgage securities and bonds and interest rates and all of that. We’re like, but yeah, each of those steps has a person in each of those steps. Somebody sold each of those things, somebody bought each of those things. Who are those people and what were they thinking?’
“In a clip from an interview, Clarence explained that he borrowed $540,00 and the bank didn’t check his income. He even confessed that he wouldn’t have loaned the money to himself. ‘I mean, I know guys who are criminals that wouldn’t lend me that money and they break your kneecap,’ Clarence said. ‘So yeah, I mean, I don’t know why the bank did it.'”
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