wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this show
On the Money
photo

“Let the good times roll” was the mantra for the 1980s. Easy money flowed like Perrier and Americans had an unquenchable thirst for attaining fabulous wealth. This was the era of champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Junk bonds on steroids. And very big scandals that famously included the Keating Savings and Loan. Nowadays, it’s Enron, Arthur Andersen, and Martha Stewart that are wearing the Scarlet “G” for greed.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley dives deep into the delusional waters of the ’80s in a sharply funny new novel “Good Faith” Tonight, On Point: risky speculation and what happens when the American dream morphs into a seven-figure fantasy.

Guests:

Jane Smiley, author of the novel “Good Faith.” In 1992, she won a Pulitzer Prize for “A Thousand Acres”

 
 

Comments are closed.

Recent Shows
Crooked Still
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

Tunes from old Appalachia with a new bluegrass twist. The hit folk band “Crooked Still” plays for us in our studio.

Comments [6]
 
Week in the News
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

A U.S. offensive in Afghanistan. Al Franken heads to the Senate. Mark Sanford keeps talking. And unemployment keeps rising. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Comments [24]
On Point Blog
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. After all, America emits only [...]

More » | Comments [1]
 
Michael, Ed, and Farrah

The week-in-the-news roundtable always involves tough choices on sound clips – what to include, what to leave out. Amid all the pressing hard news, we often give a nod to a notable person who’s passed away. But this week brought, well, a ridiculous range of choices. So we gave a nod to them all in the roundtable today. And [...]

More » | Comments [1]
 
Planet Money, On Point — Your Questions!

On Wednesday night, June 24, On Point will tape a show before an audience in Boston with two stars of NPR’s “Planet Money,” Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum. We need your online questions to put to them — about anything from the roots of the economic crisis to NPR’s coverage.
What’s your question about the [...]

More » | Comments [18]