Record Loss and Another AIG Bailout
The insurance giant AIG lost $61.7 billion at the end of 2008, the largest quarterly loss in history. The federal government agreed this morning to provide the company with more taxpayer money. How could any company lose that much money? We’ll speak with Rebecca Christie, reporter for Bloomberg News.
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Drug Wars In Arizona
Last year there were more than 360 ransom kidnappings in Phoenix, Arizona…each one tied to a drug dealer. As Sam Quinones of the Los Angeles Times reports, the kidnappers and the victims are Mexican drug cartel players.
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No Problems for Private Equity
Private equity firms make their fortunes by buying public companies, making them private, and eventually selling them off again for a huge profit. The investments of private equity companies took as big a hit as everyone else during the recent financial meltdown. So why are these companies still flush with cash? Jesse Eisinger of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine is our guest.
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Tennessee Gun Control
A newspaper’s online database of people who can legally carry concealed weapons in Tennessee has sparked an outcry. The newspaper defends the database. We speak with John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, a gun rights supporter and critic of the database.
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Amy Holland
Singer-songwriter Amy Holland had a big hit back in the 1980’s with “How Do I Survive.” But raising a family and a bout with breast cancer took her a way from the music scene, until now. Holland is back with her first full length album in more than 20 years. We talk with Holland about her new CD “The Journey To Miracle River.” We also talk with Holland’s husband, former Doobie Brother, Michael McDonald.
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Music
Terra Unfirma by Tommy Guerrero
Ports of Entry by Bill Laswell
Liberation by Outkast
Honest Emotion by Amy Holland
Listening to the story about kidnappings amongst drug dealers, I wonder how much this whole process and the underground market that it’s built around could be undermined if marijuana was legalized and regulated like alcohol.
Posted by Michelle Belanger, on March 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pmCorrection to Mr. Quinones’ observations. The people being kidnapped are not all “human” or “drug” smugglers. This ransom kidnapping started to be a problem in Mexico about 2-3 years ago. It became most apparent and public when innocent wealthy business owners in Mexico started getting kidnapped.
It was getting harder for the drug cartels to get their drugs across and get their money, so people within the cartels started resorting to kidnapping the wealthy to pay back the money they owed to the drug cartels.
Now it is not only the wealthy in Mexico, it has deteriorated to stealing from anyone on the street and killing them in cold blood for no reason. Even for the $20 they have in their pocket. The worst thing is that this violence has now spread to the U.S. side of the border towns and no one is safe!
Posted by Grace, on March 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 pmHello–hitesh here, one of the producers, responding to Grace above. Grace, thank you for the note. Just wanted to clarify that in the interview, Sam Quinones was speaking of Phoenix in particular, where the kidnappings have been limited to the drug smuggling and trading community. Of course, you are right to say that it is a wider problem in Mexico.
Very delighted to have this new way of speaking with our community of listeners. Thanks.
hitesh
Posted by hitesh, on March 2nd, 2009 at 3:10 pmItn’t it interesting.
The world at the Top has all these Over Qualified Idiots Running the Show & now look at what is happening.
I think all this Depression thing is a Farce, a Scam, so the big boys can claim a massive Tax Break on the Trillions of $’s lost.
You can bet the Bottom Dollar that the money is Socked away somewhere.
Or is it that the world is faced with a Real Cotastrophy like they have out Mortgaged the Joint more then the Value of the World’s assets. If so the the World is Bankrupt.
Posted by Adrian, on March 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pm