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Grade levels: Adult

  • NOW: 4/13/2007: Stock Alert – Home Use

    NOW takes a look at hedge funds, the secretive and often risky investment accounts that have brought incredible wealth and power to some, but with the potential to spell dire consequences for ordinary Americans. Billions of dollars are invested in hedge funds, which are not regulated, and there’s a chance some of your retirement money is in one. Hedge fund managers say they won’t tell anyone how they make their money – not even the government.

  • NOW on PBS: 12/26/2008: Credit and Credibility – Public Performance

    What role did the credit rating agencies play in the current economic crisis? Frank Raiter reveals how he was pressured to compromise standards in a push for profits, and what was really going on behind closed doors at the credit rating agencies. “During this period, profit was primary; analytics were secondary.” Who was watching the watchers? Surprising new revelations about the economic debacle.

  • FRONTLINE: Inside Obama’s Presidency

    As Barack Obama is sworn in for his second term, FRONTLINE takes a probing look at the first four years of his presidency. With inside accounts from his battles with his Republican opponents over health care and the economy to his dramatic expansion of targeted killings of enemies, FRONTLINE examines the president’s key decisions and the experiences that will inform his second term.

  • FRONTLINE: The Untouchables

    Are the CEOs of mega-banks too big to jail? Though fraudulent practices at banks contributed to America’s financial meltdown, to date no Wall Street titan has been convicted of a crime connected to the crisis. FRONTLINE investigates why Wall Street’s leaders have escaped prosecution.

  • FRONTLINE: Cliffhanger

    This February, as the nation faces yet another round of fiscal crises, FRONTLINE investigates the inside history of how Washington has failed to solve the country’s problems of debt and deficit. Drawing on interviews with key players in Congress and the White House, FRONTLINE goes behind the scenes to show how a clash of politics and personalities has taken the nation’s economy to the edge of the “fiscal cliff,” and now to a second round of standoffs over the debt ceiling and sequestration. The film explores the deep ideological divide inside the Republican Party and the struggle between House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Speaker John Boehner as they take on President Obama and the Democrats.

  • FRONTLINE: Raising Adam Lanza

    In the wake of the mass killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, FRONTLINE investigates a young man and the town he changed forever. Adam Lanza left behind a trail of death and destruction, but little else. He left no known friends, no diary. He destroyed his computer and any evidence it might have provided. His motives, and his life, remain largely a mystery. In collaboration with The Hartford Courant, FRONTLINE looks for answers to the central-and so far elusive-question: who was Adam Lanza? Also this hour: In the aftermath of the tragedy, President Obama called for a national conversation about guns in America. Nowhere is that conversation more intense than in Newtown, where FRONTLINE finds a town divided and explores how those closest to the tragedy are now wrestling with our nation’s gun culture and laws.

  • FRONTLINE: The Economic Meltdown

    Includes Five Programs: Cliffhanger: As the nation faces yet another round of fiscal crises, FRONTLINE investigates the inside history of how Washington has failed to solve the country’s problems of debt and deficit. The Warning: In the midst of the 1990s bull market, one lone regulator warned about the dangers of derivatives-and overnight, became the enemy of some of the most powerful people in Washington. Breaking the Bank: Frontline goes inside the saga of Ken Lewis and Bank of America. From the start, the Merrill deal was troubled. Then the government took over. Ten Trillion and Counting: FRONTLINE tracks the politics behind America’s mountain of debt. Is this crisis far bigger than our current financial mess? Inside the Meltdown: FRONTLINE investigates how the economy went so bad, so fast, and what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson didn’t see, couldn’t stop, and weren’t able to fix.

  • Independent Lens: P-Star Rising – Home Use

    In the early ’80s, Jesse Diaz was a rising star in the hip-hop world. Now he’s a struggling single father living in a Harlem shelter with two children to support. But Jesse finally found a shot at redemption in his nine-year-old daughter Priscilla, a precocious, adorable, and immensely talented rapper. Along with older daughter Solsky, the family’s quiet cheerleader, Jesse and Priscilla look to parlay “P-Star’s” talent into victory for the whole family. P-STAR RISING follows this father-daughter duo through four years, capturing all the grit and glamour of the music industry: late nights in the studio, performances around the world, music label negotiations, home schooling, and ultimate financial salvation. But as Priscilla’s star really begins to rise, it taxes all the relationships in her life and tests Jesse as a father in ways he never expected.

  • Independent Lens: P-Star Rising – Public Performance

    In the early ’80s, Jesse Diaz was a rising star in the hip-hop world. Now he’s a struggling single father living in a Harlem shelter with two children to support. But Jesse finally found a shot at redemption in his nine-year-old daughter Priscilla, a precocious, adorable, and immensely talented rapper. Along with older daughter Solsky, the family’s quiet cheerleader, Jesse and Priscilla look to parlay “P-Star’s” talent into victory for the whole family. P-STAR RISING follows this father-daughter duo through four years, capturing all the grit and glamour of the music industry: late nights in the studio, performances around the world, music label negotiations, home schooling, and ultimate financial salvation. But as Priscilla’s star really begins to rise, it taxes all the relationships in her life and tests Jesse as a father in ways he never expected.

  • Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (Home Use)

    Take a fearless look at manhood, sexism, and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture. Conceived as a “loving critique” of disturbing trends in rap music, this acclaimed documentary pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry for glamorizing destructive stereotypes.