The credit crunch, financial squeeze, recession... What has happened to us over the past 18 months? And why?
A new documentary series on S4C traces the history of the financial crash which has affected us all. It looks at the resulting world-wide recession and offers new ideas on how to manage the economy in the future.
The experienced journalist and presenter from Anglesey, Rhun ap Iorwerth, presents Arian mewn Argyfwng (Cash in Crisis), and in the series' three programmes takes us across the world, visiting the United States, China and Iceland.
Some of the world's leading financial experts appear in the series, including American economist Robert Solow, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1987 for his analysis of economic growth, and Robert Reich who was former President Clinton's Labour Secretary.
The experts from Wales who contribute to the series include Dr Eurfyl ap Gwilym, Deputy Chairman of the Principality Board, and Dr Carol Bell, who worked for the JP Morgan bank in the 90s, and who specialises in oil.
Other contributors are Martin Rhisiart from the University of Glamorgan Business School, Geraint Jones, Chief Executive of the American office of International Business Wales and David Morgan from leading global financial services firm, JP Morgan Chase, in New York.
The first programme, Y Cwymp, (The Crash) traces the history of the crash, and investigates the factors behind the chain of events which led to the big fall out in September 2008, when banking giant Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.
As a result of this, the flow of money across the world stopped, which led to the credit crunch.
Series' producer and director Wynford Jones says, "Rhun will take us back to the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 80s, since this was the event which opened the door to a free market across the world. He'll look at the big economic picture, and also at how we've all contributed to the disaster."
In the second programme, Y Boen, (The Agony), Rhun visits several countries across the world to understand more about the effect of the recession on the lives of ordinary people, as well as looking at the situation in Wales.
He travels to Iceland and to China, where 10 million people are out of work. A new and interesting relationship of dependency now exists between China and the United States.
Rhun says, "The root of everything was our dependency on credit. Financial loans were being pushed through the system like a kind of drug. The drug was duping us to believe that the bustle in the High Street's shops was the sign of a healthy economy. But where was the care and leadership of the bankers and managers? Were they hooked on the same drug?"
Rhun will look to the future in the last programme of the series, Y Dyfodol, (The Future), and offers new ideas on how to sustain our planet.
As Wynford explains, "Experts believe that the days of depending on oil as cheap energy are coming to an end, and that we must look at the renewable resources sector - green energy. There has been large growth in this area, especially in China."
© 2010 S4C
O Gymru / Made in Wales