Sometimes all you have is a few minutes to devote to understanding business news. It’s a challenge for some experts to explain things with hours to spare, but a bit of humor and poetry tossed in makes it easier:

Be funny. Most economists are not exactly the stand-up comedian type. But NewsHour’s Paul Solman has found a few that make money funny.

Make it rhyme. The business news of the day in 60 seconds? Not possible!

Marketplace Minute 10/16/09 from Marketplace on Vimeo.

Keep it focused. For a view of the economy from Europe, this podcast from PRI gives the lowdown on what’s going on in four Western European countries in a short feature.

And closer to home, the news from Capitol Hill is condensed into the two minute Power Breakfast podcast each morning by Capitol News Connection. Today, Elizabeth Wynne Johnson looks at job uncertainty at a nuclear plan in Ohio.