The Warning

As Congress weighs new regulations over the complex derivatives market -- whose crash helped to trigger last year's financial crisis -- FRONTLINE traces back to the late 1990s and reveals the intense battle among high-ranking members of the Clinton administration about regulating these emerging, extremely lucrative securities in The Warning, airing Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings). In this podcast, producer Michael Kirk sheds new light on the ideological clash that animated the epic battles between Brooksley Born, head of the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and Clinton's pro-business, anti-regulation economic powerbrokers -- including Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and his deputy Larry Summers. With Summers and Rubin acolyte Timothy Geithner now at top posts in the Obama administration, Wall Street Journal editor David Wessel discusses what this cautionary tale might reveal about current attempts to prevent the next economic crisis. Hosted by Arun Rath.