Bird's eye view

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The end of the year is fast approaching, and that’s when news organizations like to start looking back on the year that was. There are a few new projects taking a wider look at the economy and how it has changed, and they are using the web in unique ways to share data and stories.

Times of Crisis, from Reuters, is tracking the global economic crisis on an interactive timeline, starting in September 2008 and plotting images, stories, and data that represent how the world has changed in the past year. Milestones like the $85 billion loan from the U.S. government to AIG (September 2008), to trends like a growing fine art market (October 2008), to tips for consumers about how to cope with the recession (April 2009) are plotted on the “wall”. There’s also a blog area where visitors can answer the question “how has the credit crisis affected you?”

The Economic Policy Institute, which focuses on including middle and low income workers in economic policy, recently launched Economy Track, which lets you explore job sand employment figures in easy-to-read graphs. The unemployment rate chart, for example, compares demographic figures as well as numbers from the current recession compared with economic downturns in 2001, 1990, 1981 and 1973.

The PBS economy video widget, which we’ve featured here before, is including more and more content, with stories from The PBS NewsHour, interviews from Tavis Smiley with economics experts, and full-length Frontline pieces.

Listening to the economy

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PRX has created several playlists–each containing multiple radio pieces–related to the recession. Try these on for size:

  • Scraping by:  The Great Recession has exacerbated the effects of poverty. These pieces offer a glimpse into the world of those who live on the edge, surviving any way they can.

  • Dealing With Debt – With both individuals and nations running record fiscal deficits, a look at the history and concept of debt. Novelist Margaret Atwood, former Comptroller General David M. Walker, a cowboy poet, and average citizens from three generations all weigh in.

  • Job and Unemployment – How has the worst recession since the 1930s affected the employment market and people’s relationship to work? Plus some particularly insightful and informative looks at different types of workers and their struggles and strategies for getting along.

  • The Economy: An Historical Perspective – Take a look back at unemployment, financial panics, strikes, popular entertainment, and jobs to understand just how much has changed — and how much hasn’t — in the American economic narrative.

  • The Economy: The Big Questions – The ethics of capitalism, the wisdom of regulation, and the future of retail are some of the macro-topics discussed. Both fierce critics of capitalism and those who believe business can and must play a big role in fostering a more ethical society are represented here.

  • Health Reform – health care and the impending reform legislation wending its way through Congress

  • Coping With a Shaky Economy – pieces on a potpourri of topics related to these perilous financial times

Riding out the storm

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There’s no such thing as a dumb question about finance. To navigate the confusing economic landscape, Nightly Business Report‘s Riding Out the Storm project is soliciting experts to answer your questions online. Here, Sheila Occi asks about the importance of credit scores, and South Florida Sun-Sentinal’s personal finance editor Harriet Johnson Brackey.

Tackling tuition

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Here in California, education has been making headlines this week, as the University of California board of regents voted to increase tuition more than 30%. And California is hardly alone. Across the country, education is being affected by the recession.

In New Hampshire, some students are facing a subprime loan crisis much like the housing one – except this time it’s loans to help cover rising tuition costs of higher education.

“In many cases private student loans come with variable interest rates that can top twenty percent. In addition, a number of recent graduates contend that the education they paid for included sub-par labs, mediocre instructors, and fell short of the quality education that was advertised.”

NewsHour’s Paul Solman reported that a new bill making its way through the Senate would move the student loan industry under the Department of Education, reducing the subprime risk.

In Michigan, among the areas hardest hit by recession, some recent graduates are staying true to their state.

“Anna Barson graduated from The University in Michigan and immediately moved to Washington D.C, and then New York. She’s discovered there’s a lot of grassroots activism in Detroit she wants to be a part of.
“I do feel some connection, and if I am serious about wanting to do social justice work, Detroit– I mean, it is in my home state, and I think it would be hypocritical of me to completely ignore that,” said Barson.”

Propublica reported on how the US Department of Education is dividing up stimulus funds to schools – and it’s turning into a competitive race to get any of that funding.

“Using an elaborate scoring system just announced, the program will benefit only those states that have already taken steps to shake up their school systems, the [Wall Street] Journal reports. “This is going to be highly competitive, and there are going to be a lot more losers than winners,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporter Neil King Jr. Preliminary plans for the program provoked an outpouring of criticism, The New York Times reports, but the final rules have added flexibility. Some potentially volatile aspects remain – like President Barack Obama’s emphasis on charter schools – but the new rules invite states to describe “innovative public schools other than charter schools.”

There is some good news for veterans looking to go back to school, however. As Emilie Ritter reported for Montana Public Radio back in August, a new GI bill is sending those who’ve served back to college — for free.

The costs of climate change

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In early December, Copenhagen will play host to the UN Conference on Climate Change, where world leaders will gather to work on agreement to reduce emissions and slow the effects of global warming.

What are the Copenhagen talks? Cartoon essayist for Twin Cities Public Television David Gillette will be there, and here he explains why:

It almost goes with out saying that climate change and the global economy are intimately linked. As Marketplace reports in the series The Climate Race, countries like China are already coming up with ways to profit from climate change technology.

“If carbon capture and storage becomes a global market, China could well be the manufacturing hub for much of the equipment. Just as they’re manufacturing everything else that we use in our day to day lives,” Energy Consultant Bill Senior told Marketplace’s Scott Tung.

Nightly Business Report’s Darren Gersh looks at the economic impact of cutting greenhouse gases here in the U.S.

For a selection of stories on climate change, check out this PRX playlist, which includes stories and documentaries covering the science behind global warming and the political impact of climate change ahead of the Copenhagen talks. In the Inside Out documentary Heat of the Moment, Daniel Gross visits Paris, India, Bangladesh, and South Africa to report on the effects of climate change.