Where Has All The TARP Money Gone?

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The $700 billion dollar bailout program has damaged the government’s credibility, has done little to change risky behavior on Wall Street, and taxpayers won’t get all their money back… but the Treasury Department’s Special Inspector General also reports that the TARP program did bring the financial system back from the brink of collapse. We speak with Steve Geimann, Washington Editor for Bloomberg News.

Slow Money

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Former venture capitalist Woody Tasch reacted to the high speed culture of Wall Street by calling for a new way of investing – one that’s a lot slower and tied to local communities instead of distant conglomerates. He founded a group called Slow Money, where investors can watch their money grow at a slower pace in small, local companies.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

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Iranian negotiators today agreed to consider a draft deal that – if accepted by the Tehran leadership – would delay its ability to make nuclear weapons by sending most of the material it would need to Russia for processing. The draft deal, which also has to be approved by the U-S, Russia and France, was announced by the head of the International Atomic energy Agency in Vienna. The BBC’s Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne joins us to talk about it.

Bank of America Under Investigation

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Newly released documents show that some executives at Bank of America were alarmed by mounting losses at Merrill Lynch more than a month before they asked stock holders to approve Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill for $50 billion. Congress is investigating who knew what when, and whether the government gave Bank of America a second, $20 billion bailout to force and subsidize that deal. We’ll speak with New York Times business correspondent Eric Dash.

Secret Lives of Great Composers

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Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Portrait Photo by Franz Hanfstaengl, 1858.

Who was the first rock star? According to author Elizabeth Lunday it was Franz Liszt, all the way back in in the 1840s. In her new book “Secret Lives of Great Composers: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the World’s Musical Masters,” Lunday presents a new perspective on the biography and music of these men. She reveals the hidden aspects of the earliest celebrities’ lives including Wagner’s cross-dressing in lace lingerie, Puccini’s stealing from his church, Berlioz’s attempted murder, Tchaikovsky’s hidden sexuality, and the madness of Schumann, Mahler and others.

Music from the Show

• Maserati, “Wires Were Towers”
• The Who, “Eminence Front”
• Couch, “Nah Dran”
• Hector Berlioz, “Symphonie Fantastique”, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra
• Phillip Glass, “Vessels from the Koyaanisqatsi- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”
• Gustav Mahler, “Symphony No.6″, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• John Cage, “Music for Two”, performed by Stephen Drury
• Giacomo Puccini, “La Bohème – Quando Me’N Vo’”,  performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
• Tchaikovsky, “Clara & The Nutcracker”,  performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Tchaikovsky, “In The Pine, Forest”, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Liszt, “Piano Concerto 1 Part 3″, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra
• Schumann, “Kinderszenen, Op. 15 – Ritter Vom Steckenpferd”, performed by Vladimir Horowitz
• Antonin Dvorak, excerpt from New World Symphony
• Wagner, “Siegfried – Act 3/Sc. 3″, performed by the Royal Opera House Orchestra
• Wagner, “Ride of the Valkyries”