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Explaining the economy is a tall order, but Planet Money has helped us understand better the forces that have shaped our economy and the ignorance and hubris that led to its near collapse.

Planet Money’s Chana Joffe Walt and Alex Blumberg, who is a producer at This American Life and a contributing editor for Planet Money, are in New Hampshire for a couple days. New Hampshire Public Radio’s The Exchange is their destination this morning, for an hour with host Laura Knoy, as Walt and Blumberg talk about the economy and the state of the recovery.

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The documentary “The Giant Pool of Money” was a watershed moment in a few ways. For many listeners, it was the first down-to-earth, detailed explanation of what caused the housing bubble and the crash; for This American Life and Planet Money, it was the beginning of an effective collaboration, and the rise of Planet Money’s star.

This weekend, the collaborators “Return to the Giant Pool of Money” to examine what’s happened since (that could take weeks to explain) and to visit some of the victims of the housing bubble and catch up on their lives in the past year.

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We have a couple of posts about the aftermath of Lehman today – since it’s an appropriate time to step back and look at the whirlwind of the past year. Here are a handful of interviews that have stood out.

Several months ago, we gathered a few resources about what we were calling the Global Economic Crisis – the list includes the classic Planet Money/This American Life documentaries, and a Charlie Rose interview with Warren Buffett that still holds up, 11 months later.

A year ago, Michael Greenberger, a former director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, talked to Terry Gross on Fresh Air, just after the rescue of AIG, and this conversation still holds up even after a cascade of events and hindsight. Listen

Kate Kelly and William Cohan wrote excellent books on the collapse of Bear Stearns, and this is the only interview we know of that puts the two of them at the table to talk about the economy – on Charlie Rose.

And, we wrap up our list with a good interview we failed to call out when it aired in July. Lawrence McDonald, former Lehman Brothers vice president, now author of A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, talked to WNYC’s Leonard Lopate about how things fell apart, and why the Fed and the Treasury let it happen.

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NPR News is releasing a special on health care today, timed to coincide with the return of lawmakers to Capitol Hill and the final push on health care legislation.

NPR bills the special, hosted by Robert Seigel, as a “step back” to assess the issue in-depth, and the potential for passage of some kind of reform. There will be excerpts from Siegel’s ATC Howard County Health series, as well as appearances by NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner, health editor Joe Neel, David Kestenbaum of NPR’s Planet Money; and Mara Liasson.

There’s no set time for this series – NPR will release it this evening and stations can use it anytime between now and Monday night. We expect NPR will make special available for download – we’ll let you know.

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We haven’t had the chance to hear this yet, of course, but we think it will be good. Last night, On Point substitute host Jane Clayson hosted Planet Money’s Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum in front of a live audience in Boston.

This has been billed as a wide-ranging discussion about the economic crisis, the stimulus, bailouts, and the eventual recovery.

On Point is airing the event today in its second hour, and we’ll be listening.

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Well, we know the answer to that question. So here’s another: is it worth following his advice when he screams BUY or SELL on CNBC?

Research shows his advice is pretty good. NPR’s Planet Money reports that a study of Cramer’s recommendations from 2005 to 2007 shows investors who followed his advice would have a 12% return. That compares to a 7% return in the same period for investors who simply tracked the S&P.

So, should we all get onboard with Cramer? NPR’s David Kestenbaum says maybe not. There’s this little thing called risk. The report’s most memorable line: You can get somewhere faster by driving 100 miles an hour. But you’re taking on greater risk that you’ll hit a tree.

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NPR’s Planet Money team asks the question, and finds some creative ways to think about the near-unfathomable.

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The Planet Money guys, Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg took their show on the road this last Sunday, and put on a live show at KCRW in Santa Monica, California.  The Planet Money have already shown an parralleled ability to help readers/listeners make sense of the ups and downs (and downs, and downs, and downs…) of the current economic meltdown with their radio reports on NPR News programs and PRI’s This American Life, and online with the Planet Money website–not to mention the daily podcast.  Now they prove their mettle in front of a live audience–have a look:

If you’re a fan of Planet Money in general and This American Life’s “Giant Pool of Money” documentary in particular, check out this interview with NPR’s Adam Davidson.

He talks about how he wades into a story as complex as the subprime mortgage crisis, as the story is unfolding, where a lot of people know a little about what’s happening, but hardly anyone can see the whole picture.

It may not be traditional journalism, but it’s an enormous public service.

This reminds us of a criticism that Merlin Mann (who is a big fan of public radio) has leveled at NPR: too often, public radio tries to make issues easier than they are in real life. We think that criticism is quite fair, which is why we’re proud of Planet Money because, if anything, it’s thriving in complexity and uncertainty.

Expect another blockbuster documentary about the banking system from This American Life this weekend. TAL, partnering with NPR’s Planet Money, explains the collapse of the banking system, digs into the concept of toxic assets, and asks, who is really going to foot the bill for this? Well, the answer is: us.

TAL’s Adam Blumberg and Planet Money’s Adam Davidson do some amazing work in this documentary, and we know this to be true because we have a preview of it, courtesy of Morning Edition. Listen

As if you need another reason why Planet Money is the best guide out there to the recession, the bailout, and the stimulus, check out yesterday’s podcast, which shows so clearly how the “show” connects to listeners and asks pointed questions, some of which either don’t get asked in the context of traditional public media reporting, or they get buried underneath the measured tones of pubic radio delivery. Does that makes any sense?

You can listen to yesterday’s podcast here, but we recommend you subscribe. Daily podcasts involve more of a time commitment, but we think there’s some great payback here.

NPR’s Planet Money was one of the great additions to the public media landscape in 2008.  It is too bad that it took such a bad story–the global economic crisis–to generate what may be the best example of a strong online offering feeding great audio and on-air content.   The Planet Money blog has also effectively incorporated reader/listener input,  and some features keep on building on themselves and just get better.  For example, check out this post and comments on when people first saw the recession coming, and then take a look at the accompanying slideshow: Scenes from a Recession, 2008.