(Adam Hirsch)
This past year we’ve heard a lot of talk about the bailouts that America’s big banks got in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage debacle. And the question keeps coming up: what about the little guy? Who will come in and bail me out?
Beth Kobliner, author of “Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties,” has an answer to that question. YOU are going to bail yourself out. We're starting a ten-part weekly series on the Do It Yourself Bailout, and begin today by talking about why this is such a hard subject to discuss. Keeping silent may be more comfortable, but it’s not always the best financial strategy.
We're also joined by Stephen Goldbart, a psychologist and co-director of the Money, Meaning and Choices Institute, who comes to us to explain why we all freeze up and zip up when the subject of our money arises.
The Takeaway is a national morning news program produced in partnership with The New York Times, the BBC World Service, WNYC, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston. More »
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
Major funding provided by:
The Do-It-Yourself Bailout
Comments [2]
Could it be because we measure success based on financial wealth? If we don't have enough we are not considered "successful." If we make too much we let people know, just not exactly how much.
What hasn't been mentioned is the impact of employer pressure and threats in intimidating employees from talking about salaries--from the subtle "we don't talk about salaries here" that suggests someone's making more than others (whether or not that's true) to the explicit policy against it. A lot of this was put in place over the years to prevent unionization.
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.