Inside Job (2010)

One of the best docs ever made and afterwards you will realize that this will happen again. Maybe 2018 already when the Bitcoins and other virtual money will implode. Story tells the link between the 5 former investment banks, 2 fin conglomerates, insurance cos, the rating agencies and how they all put together CDOs, with AAA rating packed as MBS and insured against by the same players by CDSwaps. And more collusion. Enjoy it.

Eye popping as well as depressing documentary of how unquenchable greed on Wall Street as well as the world money markets lead to the financial meltdown of 2007-09 that almost destroyed the world economies. The enormous amount of some 20 trillion-that's with a capital T-dollars worth of wealth and the tens if not hundreds of millions of jobs pension funds as well as real-estate holdings that went down the drain with it is still with us almost ten years later. And worst of all those responsible for all this in the world of finance and politics never paid for the crimes that they committed.We did have financial turn-downs back in 1987 as well as 1997 & 1998 with + 500 point drops in the market as well as the tech crash of 2000-03 but this is what is known to all those involved as the "Big One" in economic crashes ever bigger then the one in 1929 that brought on the "Great Depression". And despite the markets recoveries it still with us lying in wait and ready to resurface if we don't curb the irresponsible and greedy dealings of the what internet commentator Michael Rivero calls "Money Junkies" who never not only seem to learn their lessons but are permitted to get away with and be rewarded with what they do! By handing out multi-million dollar payoffs to politician's and those who are supposed to regulate them.Even the government regulatory agency SEC had a hand in this disaster by looking the other way and letting things spin out of control until, by the summer of 2008, it was too late. This lead to a combination stock and real estate bubble bursting like a puss blister on September 15, 2008 with the sudden collapse of Leaman Brothers that ended some seven months later on March 9, 2009 with the DJIA-Dow Jones Industrials-average dropping some 54% from its high ion October 2007 to 6547! The worst thing about all this is those responsible the major banks brokerage houses and rating agencies, as well as paid off regulators & politicians, not only got away with their crimes Scot- free but were rewarded with million dollar bonuses as well as promotion's for what they did! Not so for the millions of people who trusted them in giving them their hard earned money and life savings that they both stole and swindled.It was the deregulation of the banks as well as the introduction of derivatives into the markets in the 1980's that really started the ball rolling downhill for the US as well as world economies. That together with hatchet job like treaties like NAFTA & GATT that destroyed tens of millions of well paying jobs in the US. That those pushing those treaties in the world of business & politics made tens of billions for themselves and the expense of their employees and those that they represented. That's a lesson that should be well learned by the public whenever someone running for or in office promises them the world but only ends up giving them the business!

"Inside Job" is the story of the big bank bailout and all of the criminals behind what happened and how it happened. By criminals, I'm talking about the heads of security firms, and people in the administration, those people.I already knew this, but it bears mentioning again.This is just one nugget. When Bush appointed Henry Paulson to be Secretary of the Treasury, Paulson by law had to sell his $425 million of AIG stock. Thanks to a law pushed through by the other Bush, he didn't have to pay one dime of taxes on it. Not a cent. Meanwhile, the IRS is harassing me to file my taxes (which I am not required to do because I don't owe money) and says if I don't, they're taking away money I receive to help pay for my medications.As the documentary said, the rich have gotten richer, none of these criminals who put through the subprime loans and gave anybody off the street a mortgage has faced charges, or had to return any money.If you aren't aware of what a Fascist government is, here it is, from FDR's speech before Congress in 1938: ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. As one gentleman stated in this documentary, we are a Wall Street controlled government. President Obama promised all kinds of regulations. We didn't get any. Why? The billions paid to lobbyists by Wall Street. In any other venue, this would be considered bribery. In government, it's business as usual. The tax reforms made by Bush helped the wealthiest people who make up 1% in the country. Not you, not me.This is a very depressing look at how the securities firms fought regulation of their scams (which were being given triple A ratings), how the administration, Bernake, the SEC, how everybody looked the other way, how anyone who said anything about regulation was told to keep his or her mouth shut and not pursue it. The same people are still in power. They're paid consultants, they work in the government, they are presidents of universities. They ran their companies into the ground and walked away with millions and millions and millions of dollars. And they plan on doing it again.Watch this, but have a barf bag nearby.

Most people know the basics of the 2008 economic crisis, so a lot of the information here will be (semi-)familiar to you, but it's still enlightening to have it reinforced and detailed. I loved (in the "black humor" sense) bits like Alan Greenspan being a financial gun-for-hire for outright criminals just shortly before he was appointed to lead the Federal Reserve.Inside Job, as I see it, centers on the following themes. Their importance, - and, therefore, need for reiteration, - cannot be overstated: 1. There are plenty of ways to steal completely legally.2. Whoever you are, you should be aware of the fundamentals of politics and economics. If you are on the side of the potential victims, you will know not to trust your money to people who are liable to steal it. You will also know the ways that you can become the victimizer instead of the victim, if you so choose.3. When you approach broader-scale levels like Inside Job talks about, the situation is that the mechanisms strongly encourage lying and stealing. You can close your eyes to the dog-eat-dog realities of the world, but object permanence tells us that those realities will continue to exist even if your eyes are closed.And this is not new. Power seems to be based on the ability to successfully but secretly objectify large groups of people. You can't focus all your attention on the chessboard if you are thinking about the paint that has peeled off a pawn of yours.Of course, from the moral perspective, the system should not work like this. Is power without cruelty, or without someone getting hurt as a side effect, even possible? With all my cynicism, I still say: "yes". If we can conceive of it - it's possible.But the entire social system and each individual psyche have to be, and will be, re-molded over decades, and probably millennia, for that to happen. Mankind has thrived thanks to deception and competition. You don't just throw out your main tools and expect things to be OK.I think that we should condemn, but also try to understand. Both street criminals and financial criminals are products of the system, but that doesn't excuse their actions, because blaming "the system" can be a way to remove responsibility. Then again - "blaming" isn't as useful as constructive action towards change.Also, the system could not operate like this if it wasn't supported by millions of people who, for example, take out mortgages for homes when they know that future is uncertain. They are portrayed as utter victims, but that's hardly the case. (That's actually what I took a point off for - that the documentary is a tad one-sided. It presents a clear-cut image of the enemy, - the bigwigs currently in power, - but we all know that that kind of rhetoric is used for riling up crowds, but isn't always completely objective. What about human greed? Maybe we should focus on that, instead of specific faces.)You can ponder this from different perspectives endlessly, but ultimately the point is that Inside Job is a great, informative, important documentary that everyone should see. It is going to be clear even to people who aren't well-versed in economics and finance.Until change comes, - and don't expect that to happen any time soon, - keep in mind that you are constantly being conditioned by BS coming from people who want to exploit you - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It starts when you can't even walk, and continues indefinitely. So maybe the first step to stopping being a sucker is to shut your ears to it. The only thing you'll miss is BS. But if you're like the majority - you're too scared of being alone with yourself for even 30 minutes.Self-improve or suffer the consequences.9/10.