Just finished watching this documentary that I rented from the local store. (You know, for a town of 800, it has a wide range of DVDs for rent!)
The documentary is about the 2008 Economic Crisis, what caused it, who caused it, and where we are now, including interviews with notable persons such as the former French Finance Minister, the Prime Minister of Singapore, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, and others. Among other things, the documentary exposes corruption in both the Bush and Obama administrations, and how banks and other financial institutions have corrupted the academic study of economics by buying economics professors.
Although the documentary is incredible, I found it confusing, but that is not the fault of the film makers, it is entirely because of how I think and how I am. For one, I have a terrible time understanding the abstract, and in this case that includes the loaning of money, the buying of that loan, insuring that loan, trading it, and betting against it. The trading and buying of money that doesn’t actually exist confuses me - economics class never helped me with that. Secondly, I consider myself to be an honest and caring individual, which my best friend also believes I am, therefore I’ve always had a hard time understanding actions that benefit oneself at the expense of all others.
Nevertheless I think the documentary is a must watch for all those interested in politics and economics :).
Something that I found both amusing and frustrating is how several of those that profited a lot from the crisis and/or whom served in the Bush administration (mostly an ‘and’ in this sentence) became so furious and had little tantrums on camera over the narrator’s questions, almost escalating to a point that the individual’s interviewed challenged the narrator.
It went like this…
Narrator: *Asks Question*
Interviewee: Well, it didn’t work like that…*continues on*
Narrator: Uh, yeah, in fact *continues question and quotes a ton of facts*…
Interviewee: No! No!
Narrator: Umm, okay, well how much *continues question with more cited facts*…
Interviewee: No! No! You have 3 more minutes buddy, take your best shot!
Narrator: *Pauses* As chairman of the federal reserve…*continues on*
Interviewee: I refuse to answer that! Turn the camera off!!
Some of that actually happened in the documentary! One of Bush’s economic advisors said, “You have 3 more minutes, take your best shot!” after the narrator asked a few questions, threatening to storm off the interview, and the undersecretary of the federal reserve, I think, under Bush demanded the camera be turned off.
You know if these men were honest and did the right thing they wouldn’t look like such asses on TV, and it’s a situation I see often with right-wingers.
Still it was an awesome documentary :). And it highlights why I support Marxism-Leninism and Socialism!
