The Association of South East Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, is usually thought to be more of a figurehead organization that rarely takes real action. That might be changing though as the group of ten countries is working together in the face of the global economic slowdown. Finance ministers have been very proactive and have already agreed to establish a $120 billion currency stabilization fund, which will take on a role similar to that of the IMF. For more we are joined by the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok, Thailand.

President Obama's plan to stave off foreclosures is reverberating in markets around the world, where the subprime mortgage crisis has left global financial systems reeling. For the global reaction we talk with the Financial Times' Michael Hunter in London and the BBC's Asia Business correspondent Juliana Liu in Singapore.

Newspapers are in crisis. More and more readers are migrating to the web, even as revenue from online ads plummets. Suggestions for how the industry can stay alive abound, but so far they're just that--suggestions. Jeff Jarvis, a professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism who writes about media at the Buzzmachine blog, joins The Takeaway to share his ideas for how newspapers must evolve to survive.

Check out Jeff Jarvis' book, What Would Google Do?

Our current economic crisis isn’t the first crisis in history or even in recent memory and it most likely won’t be the last. But can events of the past teach us something this time around? To help answer that question, we are joined by Carmen Reinhart, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland and co-author of the forthcoming book “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly.”

A culinary competition is underway in France. But this is not just any competition or even your average Food Channel fare. This is the Olympics of cooking. As we speak, teams of chefs extraordinaires from 24 countries are gathered at the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon, France. In the twenty years this competition has been running an American team has never won, but this year could be different. Phillipe Auclair, a food writer and trained chef in London, joins The Takeaway to give us the play by play.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? Watch the 2008 action courtesy of Youtube.com

While politicians on Capitol Hill debate how far the government should go in bailing out America's banking system, some economists are taking another look at how Sweden dealt with a similar banking crisis in 1992. Justin Fox, Time Magazine's business and economics columnist joins us from Davos, Switzerland to discuss why Sweden nationalized its banking system in the 1990s and whether a similar effort would work in the United States today.

Economist Paul Volcker, chairman-designate of the newly formed Economic Recovery Advisory Board in President-elect Obama's administration, has unveiled a plan that demands a new way of thinking and restructuring the global financial system. Although it’s theoretical, it could provide clues to the kinds of changes President-elect Obama will push for once he's in office. For an assessment of this plan, The Takeaway is joined by Janet Tavakoli. Tavakoli is founder and president of Tavakoli Structured Finance. She’s also author of the new book, Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 miles from Wall Street.