Educate yourself

One month ago, I got involved in the Occupy Wall St movement and realized that I needed to learn more before my anger could become sometime productive. Also, I was keenly aware of the criticisms, even before the critics themselves, that the movement would be full of people who didn't really know much about Wall St and the banking industry. Now, I don't think you need a degree in economics to know that things have gone wrong in our country. And I also don't necessarily thing it is the job of the Occupy movement to write the legislation that will fix these wrongs. But, we should know what we are talking about. And - many, many occupiers do. There are professors and lawyers and students and business execs (former and current) who are occupying and could debate the pants off any media show host. But this movement isn't going to elect them leaders and let them do the thinking - we need to educate ourselves (and each other). I think the 'teach-ins' are awesome and should happen every day, all the time.

But, me, I live in a rural area 2.5 hours north of NYC and can't attend a teach in. So I've spent the last month teaching myself. About the economy, about the banking system, about Wall St, legal standings of corporations in America and how it got to be that way, a bunch of about the history of the US left and a lot of US politics in general. I used to be really into politics actually - in high school I was into constitutional debate and did Model UN and all that. In college I got somewhat into progressive politics but lost steam and became jaded very quickly. For the last 2-3 years I have kept up with international politics a bit and hardly any US politics. I mean, can you blame me? US politics is a joke. Our representatives are clowns just trying to get laughs. We have serious problems and clowns in congress. [Note to self: 'Clowns in Congress' would be a great piece of gorilla art/occupational theater].

Anyway, I've been educating myself from a variety of sources:

#1 NPR's Planet Money podcast - entertaining, totally fact-based and they really make an attempt at getting different sides of the story. The general focus of the podcast is explaining economic issues in layman's terms and trying to make connections to 'regular day to day life' on Main st. I started listening only a few weeks ago and wanted more than twice per week, so I started going backwards. But this was annoying because some are part of a series, so instead I went to the oldest podcast and starting listening to them forwards. It turns out Planet Money started in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis when it was clear that something big was happening but no one was really sure what yet. The purpose of the podcast was to try to explain to non-economists what was going on.

#2 Dylan Ratigan's Radio Free Dylan podcast - Dylan used to work on Wall St and now works on MSNBC and has his own show. He is currently starting a massive political campaign called 'Get Money Out' and his podcast is real issues, real solutions, no media circus bullshit. To see what I mean, watch this short clip. I've only watched a few but listening to a real, intelligent debate on important political issues is so refreshing and educational. He actually talks about the need to educate yourself constantly.

#3 EconTalk - Okay, I haven't actually listened to any of these yet but I've heard good things.

#4 EconStories - The truth is, I didn't get into these but I wanted to put up the link because you might.

Other thoughts:

> In the iTunes store go to either 'iTunes U' or 'Podcasts' - lots of free sources of information (among pay sources).

> If you know anyone (even a boring uncle or old high school friend), go for coffee and pick their brains. Conversation is, with a doubt, my favorite way to learn and, in my opinion, the best way to really engage the information.

> Democracy Now - its not exactly a source of information but a non-main-stream media station that tells it like it is, and definitely tries to explain things without jargon.

The internet is a big place with lots of free knowledge. If you have any of your own sources, comment them to me!

Thanks,
Mark

PS. Not sure where to start? Here are keywords/areas to explore: 'Causes of 2008 Financial Crisis', 'Mortgage backed securities', 'Credit default swap', 'The Federal Reserve', 'Citizens United vs FEC'.

If I had all the time in the world, I'd do more writing and summarize what I'm learning on all these things but I don't want to make promises I can't keep.