Paper 1
Prologue.
Ira Glass
So Adam, where are we?
Adam Davidson
I recorded this at the Ritz Carlton in Lower Manhattan. It's a black tie dinner. It was just a few weeks ago.
Ira Glass
And you, by the way, are NPR's international business and economics correspondent?
Adam Davidson
That's right. I was there for my job. They're giving out awards for all these financial securities, including the one that nearly brought down the global financial system in the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Dinner Mc
At this time, I'd like to ask all of our stars to please assemble over here on the left side of the stage--
Jim Finkel
This guy is a legend. He's a granddaddy of our industry.
Adam Davidson
I'm sitting at this dinner with Jim Finkel. He's kind of nervous, because he's up for CDO of the year for the CDO he created, Monterey. Now, the CDO, that's what we're talking about. That's the financial instrument that was central to this global credit crisis we're in.
Ira Glass
And they gave awards for this? These guys are giving each other awards for doing that?
Adam Davidson
Let me just say that they were aware that there's a certain irony, giving awards to the instrument that almost destroyed the world economy. And they did consider canceling this year. But it's been a really tough year. It's been really gloomy for them.
Jim Finkel
Honestly, I know this sounds-- I was really happy to see there were no major suicides, people weren't jumping off bridges, there weren't a lot of personal disasters.
Adam Davidson
Now that same week, a few days earlier, across the river in Brooklyn, I went to a completely different kind of gathering. It was not black tie. It was put on by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. It was people on the opposite side of the mortgage crisis, people facing foreclosure, trying to figure out how to keep their homes.
I met this one guy, Richard. He's a marine. He's this big guy, over six feet tall. And when he came back from Iraq a few
Ira Glass
So Adam, where are we?
Adam Davidson
I recorded this at the Ritz Carlton in Lower Manhattan. It's a black tie dinner. It was just a few weeks ago.
Ira Glass
And you, by the way, are NPR's international business and economics correspondent?
Adam Davidson
That's right. I was there for my job. They're giving out awards for all these financial securities, including the one that nearly brought down the global financial system in the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Dinner Mc
At this time, I'd like to ask all of our stars to please assemble over here on the left side of the stage--
Jim Finkel
This guy is a legend. He's a granddaddy of our industry.
Adam Davidson
I'm sitting at this dinner with Jim Finkel. He's kind of nervous, because he's up for CDO of the year for the CDO he created, Monterey. Now, the CDO, that's what we're talking about. That's the financial instrument that was central to this global credit crisis we're in.
Ira Glass
And they gave awards for this? These guys are giving each other awards for doing that?
Adam Davidson
Let me just say that they were aware that there's a certain irony, giving awards to the instrument that almost destroyed the world economy. And they did consider canceling this year. But it's been a really tough year. It's been really gloomy for them.
Jim Finkel
Honestly, I know this sounds-- I was really happy to see there were no major suicides, people weren't jumping off bridges, there weren't a lot of personal disasters.
Adam Davidson
Now that same week, a few days earlier, across the river in Brooklyn, I went to a completely different kind of gathering. It was not black tie. It was put on by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. It was people on the opposite side of the mortgage crisis, people facing foreclosure, trying to figure out how to keep their homes.
I met this one guy, Richard. He's a marine. He's this big guy, over six feet tall. And when he came back from Iraq a few