Business, Economics and Finance

The bankruptcy of financial services giant Lehman Brothers and the 500-point drop in the stock market on Sept. 15 have sent shock waves through the financial community. Law professor Michael Greenberger discusses the potential ramifications of the recent turmoil.

To win this coming election, presidential candidate John McCain must prove that he is as strong on the economy as he is on military and foreign affairs. His senior economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, discusses McCain's approach to economic policy.

Parsing the presidential candidates' tax plans is necessary to understanding their general takes on the economy. Economist Len Burman has been doing just that. He is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, which has just released a report comparing the candidates' proposed tax policies.

Jason Furman has been given the task of formulating Barack Obama's economic policy. He's the presidential hopeful's top economic adviser, and he will talk about where Obama stands on the most pressing economic issues.

According to financial journalist Paul Muolo, a series of Wall Street missteps and misdeeds caused the subprime mortgage crisis.

Your 401(k) might not be the secure retirement plan you think it is. Economist Teresa Ghilarducci examines pension plans and offers advice on retirement security. Ghilarducci's new book is When I'm Sixty-Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them.

Harvard Law professor returns to Fresh Air to talk about how credit-card debt is becoming more costly due to increased fees and interest rates. Warren is a bankruptcy expert and an outspoken critic of abusive lending practices.

Prof. Elizabeth Warren, a specialist in bankruptcy and contract law at Harvard Law School, reports that one in four credit reports contain errors significant enough to affect a credit score.

The New York Times columnist has made his name with riffs on topics large (Boeing's comeback) and small (his own defunct iPod). A Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of several notable journalism awards, he's a regular contributor to NPR's Weekend Edition.

Perplexed by the U.S. economy? You're not alone. Law professor Michael Greenberger joins Fresh Air to explain the sub-prime mortgage crisis, credit defaults, the shaky future of other types of loans and what we can expect from the U.S. financial markets.