Kurt Andersen, the host of "Studio 360" and master of many media (magazines, novels, nonfiction books, film), came by Big Think today to speak about the introduction he wrote to a new edition of a novel by the Nobel Prizewinning author Heinrich Böll. He also spoke about the good he hoped would come from the current Great Recession. When he was last on Big Think, two years ago, he spoke about the future of journalism.
Discuss
Evan T on October 16, 2009, 1:10 AM
Over the course of two months, New York State alone lost more than $100 million. Of 850 banks in America, 343 closed. The unemployment rate for blue-collar jobs skyrocketed to 30 percent. Most agree that this incredible collapse was due in large part to banks and a system that encouraged wild speculation and extended credit beyond what could be supported. This is not a description of what happened last year. Rather, it occurred during the abject and catastrophic “Panic of 1837.” (New York’s losses then would be about $1.9 billion in today’s dollars.) While there is much to learn from the collapse itself, the recovery process through 1844 offers important lessons to America in 2009. The time is ripe for American genius to surge. We must shed the idea that our government can buy us out of a depression or somehow use a new tariff or tax to encourage growth. Rather, we must turn to our ingenuity and the audacious independence unique to our nation – and change the course of America without relying in any same day loans.
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