It's the Economy

Steve Scher
09/25/2008 at 10:00 a.m.

The Bush administration's $700 billion bailout plan is under scrutiny this week. The details of the plan are still unclear. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke underwent five hours of questioning before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. Bernanke told lawmakers the bailout is "all about the taxpayers." Many Democrats are pushing for greater homeowner assistance and limits on executive pay for government–aided firms. We'll talk to several economic experts to get a better handle on the issues.

Guest(s)

Bill Schultheis, of Sagemark Wealth Management in Kirkland, WA, is the author of "The Coffeehouse Investor."

Arnold Kling was an economist on the staff of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1980 – 1986, and a senior economist at Freddie Mac from 1986 – 1994.

Bill Fleckenstein is the author of "Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve." He is also president of Fleckenstein Capital, which manages a hedge fund based in Seattle.

Robert Kuttner is the founder and coeditor of The American Prospect magazine. He's also a regular columnist in the Boston Globe, a radio and TV commentator, Demos Senior Fellow, and a contributor to numerous magazines. He was the author of a column in BusinessWeek for 20 years. He's the author of several books including "The Squandering of America: How the Failure of our Politics Undermines our Prosperity" and most recently "Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency."