Introduction
‘This American Life’ is a radio show that is run every week. The show was produced by Chicago Public Radio. The show has over 300 episodes. Several lessons can be learned from the episode that was aired on September 9th, 2009.
The underlying vital aspects of the episode
The episode focuses on the death spiral that engulfed the state. The death spiral was characterized by surging federal debt that amounted to $16 trillion. This amount was exclusive of Medicare and social security. When these two elements are included, the debt would escalate further to $211 trillion. The debt crisis in the country gave clear indications that the country would go into recession. It is important to appreciate the fact that the state was fully aware of a high possibility of a recession since it is evident that a team of various professionals comprising of geopolitical analysts, economists, and scientists confirmed that the country was likely going into a recession and major institutions in the economy, such as the credit and money market, were likely to collapse. The team held the state responsible for the slump since it encouraged the Ponzi scheme thus, escalating the debt. Further, the team pointed out that the recession would affect necessities in the economy such as energy, water, and food. The team further hinted that the situation is soaring and within a short time the economy will slump. The episode further points out that the various subcommittees and various teams investigated the envisaged recession and the result was the same, a looming recession was on the way to hit the country. Besides, all investigations carried out showed the same results, that is, a Ponzi pyramid scheme. Further, in the episode, the team indicated that there was no possible way that the mess could be sustained any longer. Further, there is no way it could be corrected in a well-ordered manner without incurring losses.
Lessons learned
There were adequate signs of a possible recession. All studies indicated that the country was in a death spiral that started escalating way back in the seventies. However, signals were raised quite late and it was impossible to correct any element of the mess in a manner that would not affect the entire public. In as much as the economic cycle (that is, recession, recovery, boom, and depression) is bound to occur at some point in the economic life of a country, the state did not take any action that would cushion the economy from the consequences of a possible downswing. The policies put in place by the state were not in the best interest of the public. Besides, the policies encouraged consumption and the use of debt to finance spending and government activities instead of focusing on production and revenue generation. Further, from the episode, it is evident that the state does not carry out regular reviews of various policies in place. It is good practice to review policies before implementing them and after implementing them. Such reviews give indications of the impact of the policies on the economy. These reviews help in pointing out the possibility of depression and a recession in an economy is a good time to help mitigate the impact of such policies. Further, it is important to have an independent body that carries out frequent reviews of policies and the general state of the economy.