An impressive doco that doesn't tell the whole story and treats some politicos and execs in either a too dark or too heroic light . Two examples:
1. It doesn't quite explain why government would have wanted to appoint/re-appoint the culprits. There was something more at work than just corruption, kickbacks and slack regulation. One has to remember that almost all the key players including Greenspan and three US Presidents thought that making housing within the reach of more people was good policy. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were quasi-governmental agencies charged precisely with raising the numbers of subprime mortgages. Stopping them at the time would have looked like political suicide, since the government policy was popular with voters. (The policy in fact goes back as far as President Roosevelt and the New Deal.)
Similarly, complex financial derivatives like CDOs and CD swaps were thought in fact to offer protection against catastrophic loss and systemic instability. So the "system" offered incentives and rewards including positions of political and financial influence. It's also quite normal business practice to "bet against" the financial product you're selling someone else. If you're going to play the derivatives market, this is something you learn at the outset. It's exactly what hedge funds are set up to do.
2. Congressman Barney Frank comes across in a fairly rosy light as a kind of whistleblower, and isn't subjected to the kinds of cross-examination most of the other "culprits" were.. The doco didn't dwell too long - if at all - on Frank's involvement in Fannie Mae etc., as one of the principal architects and benefiters of subprime mortgage securitization.
One day the whole fucking mess will collapse in on itself and real people with real needs will once again be on an equal footing with these blood suckers. It may take a long time, but it will happen.
Overall, a very good documentary.
Too bad in the latter 40 minutes it lowers itself to the level of the common documentaries by asking bad (closed-ended) questions and ranting for 30 minutes about high bonuses without bringing up any arguments.
While the film treats its subject matter in anything but a fair way, it does nonetheless succeed in making its central argument of theft and needed reform quite convincing. The film-maker knew his material inside and out and made most of it quite clear. This is not however a film that is easy to follow for those with no prior experience in the field, I would say.
Ive shaken my head so much time in astonishment of the presented facts.
What really shocked me was that Obama appointed the same people that were responsible for the crisis.
Never has a documentary made me so angry at the institution. This needs to be watched by every student at school and every individual across the world with a bank account. This is a documentary that opens the curtains and lets us see how truly screwed we all are.
It is justifiably angry, what excuses some of its flaws; much gets cut or skipped, but to package such a terrible story, point fingers and explore the complex world it presents, it seems a good trade-off.
As Neville said almost 10 years ago, impressive but imperfect.
Rich people take a gamble in US and poor people pay the price in a town of China. Then rich people are now richer while poor ones are poorer and they call it globalism.
The most irritating part for me is that almost all of the people responsible for the crysis say "No" when they were asked if they feel guilty or bad even they dont bother hiding their smiles saying "yes we did it". Yes you did it. You killed humanity. You can tell the stories to your grand children with proud and no remorse sitting back in your million dollars houses that you bought the money which you made destroying thousands families' lives.
I like watching thrillers and horrors, none of them has scared me quite so much as this! Watch with 'To big to Fail (2011) TV movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742683/
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Comments 1 - 15 of 21
Neville
An impressive doco that doesn't tell the whole story and treats some politicos and execs in either a too dark or too heroic light . Two examples:1. It doesn't quite explain why government would have wanted to appoint/re-appoint the culprits. There was something more at work than just corruption, kickbacks and slack regulation. One has to remember that almost all the key players including Greenspan and three US Presidents thought that making housing within the reach of more people was good policy. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were quasi-governmental agencies charged precisely with raising the numbers of subprime mortgages. Stopping them at the time would have looked like political suicide, since the government policy was popular with voters. (The policy in fact goes back as far as President Roosevelt and the New Deal.)
Similarly, complex financial derivatives like CDOs and CD swaps were thought in fact to offer protection against catastrophic loss and systemic instability. So the "system" offered incentives and rewards including positions of political and financial influence. It's also quite normal business practice to "bet against" the financial product you're selling someone else. If you're going to play the derivatives market, this is something you learn at the outset. It's exactly what hedge funds are set up to do.
2. Congressman Barney Frank comes across in a fairly rosy light as a kind of whistleblower, and isn't subjected to the kinds of cross-examination most of the other "culprits" were.. The doco didn't dwell too long - if at all - on Frank's involvement in Fannie Mae etc., as one of the principal architects and benefiters of subprime mortgage securitization.
fkos
One day the whole fucking mess will collapse in on itself and real people with real needs will once again be on an equal footing with these blood suckers. It may take a long time, but it will happen.TheMajor
Overall, a very good documentary.Too bad in the latter 40 minutes it lowers itself to the level of the common documentaries by asking bad (closed-ended) questions and ranting for 30 minutes about high bonuses without bringing up any arguments.
frankqb
While the film treats its subject matter in anything but a fair way, it does nonetheless succeed in making its central argument of theft and needed reform quite convincing. The film-maker knew his material inside and out and made most of it quite clear. This is not however a film that is easy to follow for those with no prior experience in the field, I would say.-TJ-
Ive shaken my head so much time in astonishment of the presented facts.What really shocked me was that Obama appointed the same people that were responsible for the crisis.
scorpia11
Never has a documentary made me so angry at the institution. This needs to be watched by every student at school and every individual across the world with a bank account. This is a documentary that opens the curtains and lets us see how truly screwed we all are.undivided_self
great documentary, this movie is now particularly relevant with Occupy Wall Street going ondombrewer
Goes a good way to proving that greed is the deadliest of the seven sins. These money grubbing fuckers are going to kill us all.bobby213
if you don't get pissed after watching this movie then you must be part of the winning side of wall streetleodelgado01
It is justifiably angry, what excuses some of its flaws; much gets cut or skipped, but to package such a terrible story, point fingers and explore the complex world it presents, it seems a good trade-off.As Neville said almost 10 years ago, impressive but imperfect.
asvejas
very depressing.hyperform
Rich people take a gamble in US and poor people pay the price in a town of China. Then rich people are now richer while poor ones are poorer and they call it globalism.The most irritating part for me is that almost all of the people responsible for the crysis say "No" when they were asked if they feel guilty or bad even they dont bother hiding their smiles saying "yes we did it". Yes you did it. You killed humanity. You can tell the stories to your grand children with proud and no remorse sitting back in your million dollars houses that you bought the money which you made destroying thousands families' lives.
Earring72
Great doc. Made me really angryjhhayes
Great documentary.Warrison
I like watching thrillers and horrors, none of them has scared me quite so much as this! Watch with 'To big to Fail (2011) TV movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742683/Showing items 1 – 15 of 21