The Story

Today we begin a special series looking at the financial crisis through the eyes of people who've been there. Joe Rusnak helped found a bank in a small town in Ohio. As he tells host Dick Gordon, it was his baby -- until a financial storm hit: the network of banks to which Joe's bank belonged got caught up in a fraud scandal.Also in this episode: The story of former bank executive Jim Shaw is the mirror image of Joe Rusnak's. Jim remembers when he was called into a secret meeting and told to pack his bags, hit the road, and take over a bank that had just gone belly up.

For 9 years Audrey Serrano thought she was HIV positive. Audrey took an anonymous HIV test at a clinic after her boyfriend reluctantly revealed he had HIV. Her test came back positive, and she underwent years of grueling medical treatments and lost custody of her daughter. Eventually Audrey got herself retested and those results were negative. Also in this episode, Steve DeJoseph grew up listening to his Italian grandfather complaining about family back in the old country. His grandfather constantly said his Italian relatives were "no good" and that all they wanted was the money he sent them. Steve tried to convince his granddad to take a trip back home, but it never happened. Finally Steve went himself to meet the "no good" people his grandfather had talked about.

As part of its restructuring plan, Chrysler has cut 25 percent of its dealerships across the country. Two of those dealerships belong to Rick and Rob Engel. The brothers have been selling Chrysler cars in New Jersey for more than 20 years and remained profitable - even during the current economic downturn. So they were surprised to find out that not one, but both, of their businesses would close.

Dick Gordon speaks with Fawzia Suayah as she walks the streets of Libya and talks about her joy over the changes in her country. Dick also talks with Sherif El Magrabe, a Libyan teenager, who is thinking about what revolution means for his generation. Ismail Suayah, Fawzia’s brother and Sherif’s uncle, joins the conversation.