Listen, then get measured for your barrel

This American Life is known, and sometimes mocked for, its stories in which "hipster know-it-alls talk about how fascinating ordinary people are." The show's coverage of the financial tumult of the last six months isn't quite like that- the "hipster know-it-alls" are actually confused and freaked out, and they're talking about how ordinary people got swept up in something that got way out of hand. "The Giant Pool of Money", their show about the subprime mortgage meltdown that first broadcast in May, and "Another Frightening Show About the Economy", last week's aptly-named show about whatever new mess we're in now, are the clearest, most even-handed explanations of what's going on I've come across. Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson, the reporters who put both shows together, also have a really interesting podcast and blog about the crisis called Planet Money. And the best news in these troubled times? They're all free.