How To Explain The 2008 US Financial Crisis To Your Kids (And Most Adults): a small animated video produced by Say It Visually! presents an explanation on the reasons behind the current financial crisis in very simple terms. The animation is not very elaborate but the message is surprisingly effective.

For something related, I recommend the article What about austerity? published on Boston.com, co-authored by Juan Enriquez, a distinguished thinker in the field of economics and science, also known for his presentations on TED.

His article raises a curious question: that in the stream of opinions regarding the current financial bailout there is one word notably missing: austerity. The dominant thesis seems to be that only spending more money can we prevent a full-blown crisis that, we should notice, was originated in the credit system. Enriquez isn’t saying that such measures aren’t necessary, but he points out that for deficitary nations, these policies may simply be a postponement of the real crisis.

I also recommend watching the two presentations delivered by Juan Enriquez on TEDTalks. Although the subjects are quite specific, his ability to expose universal concepts is truly admirable. In Decoding the future with genomics he presents an interesting fact. In an agricultural society, the difference between the richest and the poorest was 5 to 1. Which means that in such a productivity range - regarding technological capacity and more intensive labour – a successful production would amount to an increase up to 5 times. Today, the differential between more and less productive nations is of 427 to 1. Meaning that in our contemporary economic system, which is based on knowledge, the rules of competitiveness have radically changed.
His second presentation, Why can't we grow new energy?, deepens this relationship between technological development and productive capacity. So today, achieving competitiveness doesn’t rely only on labour flexibility, but depends on our capacity to revolutionize knowledge and innovation patterns. Meaning that a more consequent impact from academic institutions over the real economy is absolutely crucial.