Our World - Historic Reckoning 2008 10 05 (CBC Newsworld)

Our World - Historic Reckoning 2008.10.05 (CBC Newsworld) 374 MB (or 383,068 KB or 392,261,632 bytes) 00:22:47 (40,977 fr) xviD This week, we look at how a culture of greed and recklessness finally caught up with Wall Street. Brian interviews an historian about how the credit crisis compares with past financial crashes and lessons learned from solving them. And, in the second part of our program, Brian talks with outspoken demographer, David Foot, about how shifting population trends shape the politics, economy and societies of our times. First up, the Global Financial Crisis.We have lived through an extraordinary couple of weeks. Who will soon forget President George W. Bush's dramatic -almost humble--appeal to the American nation, as giant banks collapsed around him, to support a deal in which taxpayers would pay off $700 BILLION dollars of bad debt racked up by Wall Street? For days, the greatest economy in the world seemed almost immobilized by bad debts and lost trust and this, in turn, has affected economies across the globe. The full impact of all this is unclear, but we know big economic change is coming. In such confusing times many people look to history for guidance, seeking lessons of past financial crises. To discuss the Global Financial crisis: what it means for the world economy and how we can best understand it in historic terms, Brian is joined by business historian, Joe Martin, from the Rotman School at the University of Toronto. If over the past two weeks, watching Wall Street tumble and then Washington react after the fact, has taught us anything, then it must be that we need more leaders who think in the long term; who see broad patterns and anticipate problems, instead of just reacting to them. One proponent of this type of farsighted decision making is David Foot. He is an economist and demographer, based here in Canada, and the author of the huge best seller BOOM BUST AND ECHO, and its sequel: PROFITING FROM DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT IN THE 21ST CENTURY. Brian interviewed Foot recently and we present their conversation. shunster-ex www.sonofshun.com