In the first installment of our new interview series "Taking Stock," Kai Ryssdal talks to political economist Ann Pettifor about global debt. She's a fellow at the New Economics Foundation in London and author of "The Coming First World Debt Crisis."

Struggling companies are looking to Congress for relief from pension contributions, and they might actually get it. Alisa Roth explains we may want to look out for new rules and cut backs in the long term.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wants to spend $50 billion on the consumer debt market as part of the bailout package. Scott Jagow talks to Steve Henn in Washington about what this would entail and how it might help.

The saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention. So will a troubled economic system cause a rise in financial innovation? Economics correspondent Chris Farrell tells Scott Jagow that it will.

There was a time, says commentator David Frum, when GM was one of the biggest employers in America, but that's no longer true. Besides, even with a bailout, more job cuts are coming.

With the debate about bailing out GM reaching a fevered pitch, Ashley Milne-Tyte asks, what a GM rescue plan would look like and what would actually happen if the giant automaker failed.

Why hasn't the government's plan to buy up toxic assets worked? Will recapitalizing the banks and providing mortgage relief ease the crisis? Kai Ryssdal puts those questions and more to financial analyst Karen Shaw Petrou.

The Treasury secretary says the government is backing away from buying toxic assets from banks — the centerpiece of the rescue plan when Congress approved it. Washington Bureau Chief John Dimsdale reports.

While Africa is not feeling the effects of the financial crisis the same way as many other countries, it's still bracing itself for ripple effects such as cooled global demand. Gretchen Wilson reports.