Tag Archives: american experience

The gold standard

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Alexandre Bilodeaus Gold Medal/ Credit Flickr user: thelastminute

Alexandre Bilodeau's Gold Medal/ Credit Flickr user: thelastminute

All these medals floating around with the Olympics this week have me thinking, “What’s a gold medal really worth?” Turns out I’m not the only one with things that glitter on the brain.

The Wall Street Journal’s Brett Arends takes a look at whether all the Olympic medalists just should melt down their prizes and take them to the bank when they get home. Unfortunately, the athletes would be in for a surprise.

The deal: No, those gold medals aren’t solid gold. They’re actually silver, and then plated with 6 grams of gold.

The medals at the Vancouver games are worth a lot more–in purely bullion terms, at least–than medals handed out in the past few decades. That’s because they’re pretty big–and, more to the point, because gold and silver prices have been on a 10-year tear.

But there can be more at stake than just the medal for some athletes. A contest run by a sponsor of the Canadian Luge Team will award a $1M paycheck to the Canadian team – if they take home Olympic gold.

One person who is investing in real gold is billionaire philanthropist George Soros. He recently doubled his investment in gold, which analysts fear may not be a good sign for the economy overall.

The BBC spoke with a gold expert about Soros’ sudden change of heart.

Mark Heyhoe, senior mining analyst at Westhouse Securities, said: “He has previously said that gold is the ultimate hedge against inflation – if you think inflation’s going to rise, then I’m not surprised he bought into gold.”

For those of us with less than Ft. Knox in our accounts, NewsHour’s Paul Solman gives practical advice on how and when to invest in gold — it’s not for everyone. Nightly Business Report also investigates the right time for putting your money into metals and other alternative investments.

Putting stock in gold may have about as much chance of return as winning a gold medal, but it does have a similar sense of patriotism and nostalgia. To get your gold fix without breaking the bank, watch American Experience’s The Gold Rush and see where the ‘49ers got lucky.

Coming home

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Veterans Day. Credit: Flickr/Jeff Cagle

Veterans Day. Credit: Flickr/Jeff Cagle

Returning from war, veterans face numerous challenges. For some, that includes starting a new career after their service. This Veterans Day, we take a look at stories old and new of how veterans cope with coming back.

Military spouses, journalists, veterans, and family members are sharing advice about returning from war in a “conversation” from PBS’ film series, POV. Regarding War is a space to share your stories and learn from those who’ve dealt with this difficult topic. The accompanying film The Way We Get By profiles a group of senior citizens who greet soldiers returning from war in Bangor, Maine.

American Experience shares letters written by servicemen and women written home to their families from World War I through the present day. These don’t all have happy endings, but they give a unique glimpse into what it’s like to be so far away and what it’s like to come back.

One example is from Lewis Plush, who fought in World War I:

“”Men fought to kill, to maim, to destroy. Some return home, others remain behind forever on the fields of their greatest sacrifice. There was a war, a great war, and now it is over.”

Plush was honorably discharged from service on February 15, 1919. He returned home and homesteaded property in the coastal mountains. He married in 1923, planted apples and raised turkeys on his ranch, and died in 1956 at age 63.

Two veterans profiled today are taking steps to start new careers after completing their military service. NPR’s Michel Martin spoke with two former service members who are now a college counselor in Atlanta and cardiovascular perfusionist at the Mayo Clinic, respectfully.

For more stories about military service and first-person accounts, EconomyBeat is featuring posts from Milblogging.com, where soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are sharing their stories.

Watch and learn

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PBS has just launched a new economy video widget, featuring full episodes of NewsHour, Frontline, Bill Moyers Journal and more. Curated by PBS editors to find the best economy-related content from across public media, the player also includes historical pieces, like the American Experience series on the 1930s. You can embed the code below and add the player to your own site or Facebook page (like we’ve done over on the EconomyStory fan site).

Then and now

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Crash of 1929/image: courtesy PBS

Crash of 1929/image: courtesty PBS

What is the relevance of the Great Depression to the situation we find ourselves in today? While we’re in a pretty bad recession, the U.S. isn’t close to the levels of poverty and displacement seen after the stock market crash of 1929, but there are lessons and similarities between the two events.

“I think the big question then and the big question now is whether the government can do anything to help us solve our problems.,” Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter said in an online interview for the PBS American Experience documentary “The 1930s.”

“The 1930s are an example of time when Americans felt like their government was looking out for them. Even if the Depression wasn’t ended for several years, FDR provided jobs and hope.”

There are similarities in the voices of people who lived through the Depression and people coping with the recession today. Interviews with dust bowl survivors and Hoover Dam workers, economists and newspaper delivery boys give a first-hand look at the Depression era.

Farming is a key industry that is facing frighteningly similar challenges as it did in the 1930s. The history of California farmworkers in the 1930s is chronicled in a 2007 report on PRX by Rachel Anne Goodman. She looks at how the Depression affected European immigrant workers in the Central Valley, including labor battles and unemployment issues among migrants.

Just this week. Emily Apel reported at KAZU in Monterrey that farmers are struggling to find decent health care.
“According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor, only 23 percent of farmworkers were covered by some sort of health insurance in 2002.”

Today, Patchwork Nation’s Tractor Country map shows the economic climate across farm-rich areas.