Episodes

  • Meltdown Trailer
    Oct 14 2021

    Listen to the trailer now and the full podcast on 10/28.

    How did we end up in this version of America, with neighbors divided against neighbors, and some citizens angry enough to storm the U.S. Capitol?

    The 2008 financial crisis - and the government’s botched, multibillion-dollar bailout - is the skeleton key that unlocks almost every big thing that’s gone wrong in America in the 21st Century, from climate change, to the all-out assault on democracy, to the rise of white nationalism.

    In this thrilling, 8-part podcast, investigative journalist David Sirota explores why the financial crisis happened, how the bailout went so wrong, why politicians covered up Wall Street’s crimes and what the lasting impact of the meltdown was on America’s political, social and economic fabric.

    This is an epic adventure, a search for answers that stretches from Bogotá, Colombia to Madison, Wisc., to Washington, D.C. Sirota talks to politicians who made the laws, the investigators who uncovered massive fraud and ordinary people who lost homes, families and livelihoods, in order to shed light on why the economic disaster happened, why nobody succeeded in fixing it, and why the country soon embraced the politics of rage.

    Meltdown is the first collaboration between Audible, a leading producer and provider of original spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, and Jigsaw Productions, the production house launched and helmed by Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief) in collaboration with Transmitter Media, the Peabody-nominated and Webby-winning production company behind podcasts such as Finding Fred, Work Life with Adam Grant and Tabloid: The Making of Ivanka Trump.

    Meltdown is enraging and engaging, must-listen audio entertainment for anyone who wants to know how we ended up where we are now - and where we might be going next.

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    2 mins
  • Episode 1 -The Big Heist
    Oct 28 2021
    The 2008 Meltdown was a pivotal moment in modern history, as harmful to America as the Moon Landing was inspirational. But the government responded in a much different way than President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to the Great Depression - and here’s why that failed response was even more disastrous than the crisis itself.
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    54 mins
  • Episode 2 - The Rant Heard Round the World
    Oct 28 2021
    CNBC pundit Rick Santelli's on-air rant helped give birth to a new movement and channeled a deluge of bitter hate towards the average homeowner. How did something as simple as taking out a loan to buy a house turn the American Dream into an American Nightmare?
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    49 mins
  • Episode 3 - Cramdown
    Oct 28 2021
    After the financial crisis, some politicians fought for a change to personal bankruptcy law that might have saved the livelihoods of millions of people. Here’s what went wrong.
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    56 mins
  • Episode 4 - Foam on the Runway
    Oct 28 2021
    After Wall Street got its bailout, Main Street hardly got a cent. Were ordinary people just foam on the runway to make sure the Big Banks didn’t crash?
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    56 mins
  • Episode 5 - Does This Sound Like It Should Be Legal to You?
    Oct 28 2021
    After the Big Banks were stabilized by taxpayer dollars, Congress held hearings to uncover the real roots of the financial crisis. What they found was stunning - but the bigger shock was what happened next.
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    58 mins
  • Episode 6 - Eating Your Shoe
    Oct 28 2021
    After the Great Depression, President Roosevelt pushed legislation to make sure Big Banks could never blow up the economy again. So why, after the financial crisis, did politicians work so hard to let Wall Street run wild all over again?
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    52 mins
  • Episode 7 - Cracks In the Blue Wall
    Oct 28 2021
    Wisconsin is a bellwether state whose votes are hotly-contested by both political parties. Here’s how the aftermath of the financial crisis spurred voters in the Badger State to distrust big government - and what that meant for democracy itself.
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    50 mins