Way OT: Frontline Documentary on Financial Crisis

Submitted by jcorqian on

For those of you interested in finance, Frontline has done a tremendous documentary on the recent financial crisis.  It is a four part series (currently parts one and two are out) with tremendous detail.  You can watch it here.  I have written a blog post on it, Inside Job, and some of my quick thoughts on the financial crisis here.

I would highly recommend watching this for those of you still in school and are thinking about working in finance.  At least when I was interviewing, there were definitely questions on the crisis (although that was about two years ago).  However, you should definintely watch it regardless of just interview preperation to gain a broader understanding of the industry and the recent turmoil.

BiSB

April 26th, 2012 at 7:56 PM ^

Like Charlie Brown trying to be Brendan Gibbons (Lucy was a brunette girl, after all.), I'm gonna leave this up to see if we can have this discussion without delving into politics.

Please be good, or I'll artificially inflate the number of MGoPoints on this blog, divide this blog into traunches, sell derivatives of those traunches as securities, and make a fortune until the whole thing collapses. Then won't you feel bad?

Seth

April 27th, 2012 at 5:10 PM ^

YOUR TOASTER WAS A FALSE PRESIDENT! CONGRESS JUST HANDED HIM THE 1820 ELECTION AFTER IT WAS CLEAR MY HOOSIER CABINET HAD FAR MORE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES, NOT TO MENTION MY CABINET WON THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE WAR OF 1812* WHILE YOUR TOASTER WAS OFF IN RUSSIA BEING A DANDY!

* So decisive in fact it ended the war before the battle even happened!

mgobleu

April 26th, 2012 at 8:43 PM ^

See, this is how the system screws you. This system only benefits those with the most mgopoints. Hell, people with less than 100 points can't even post! How the hell is that fair? Meanwhile, those the ruling class like Brian and BISB get fat off of us in the mgomiddle class; I don't know about the rest of you, but I smell an uprising on the way...

Maize n Blue

April 26th, 2012 at 8:54 PM ^

Points trickle down though... if the people with less than 100 points want to post their own content then they just need to post more quality content. Without those who have a large amount of points starting board topics and diaries, those with less points wouldn't be able to comment and earn points of their own.

BlueRude

April 26th, 2012 at 8:02 PM ^

Mr. A goes to buy a $100 lamp for his home to Mr. B.  Mr. B then pays Mr. C $100 on a loan. Mr. C then pays Mr. D on a stock buy to Mr. E. Now here comes the fun, Mr. A's wife says the lamp sucks and tells her husband to take it back. Who got fucked?

Thanks

 



 

Bodogblog

April 26th, 2012 at 8:22 PM ^

everyone in the country, of every political persuasion. It built a ridiculous bubble we all should have seen coming.

The only thing that politics dictates is who you blame.

03 Blue 07

April 26th, 2012 at 8:26 PM ^

I'll steer clear of politics, and add only this: If you want a more in-depth look at the same subject matter, read "Confidence Men," by WSJ reporter Ron Suskind. I just finished it. Without giving away my political leanings, I will say this: it skewers everyone. And the fundamental problems (Glass-Steagal's repeal, for example, is still in place; it was repealed in '99 and knocked down the walls between investment banks and commercial banks) are still largely there, despite the disaster of 2008.

But yeah, I don't know how we can have this discussion without a lot of uneducated conjecture and, well, I fear that it will get political. . .

TheThief

April 26th, 2012 at 8:29 PM ^

I saw the first part of that documentary and it was well worth watching, I never thought a Frontline doc on the economic crisis could be riveting, but I could not change the channel once I started watching. As far as politics, there is plenty of blame to go around, people on both sides of the hall turned their back on middle America. What stuck with me most was the analyst who said "It was the savers that were being penalized." As a hard worker and a saver that made me want to go through the roof.

That being said, I will be watching the draft and the Lions tonight.

yzerman19

April 26th, 2012 at 8:38 PM ^

i am a UM JD/MBA '98 and i lived through that shit and think that miniseries should be required viewing for life.  if i were to channel my inner JJ White he would agree with me.  i liked your post too; didn't agree with all of it but will concede you are much brighter than me.  I.  whichever.

m1jjb00

April 26th, 2012 at 8:49 PM ^

I look forward to watching it. Thanks. But trust me when i say that i know of no book, movie or special that adequately got the breadth and complexity of what happened. The problem is that there isnt a clean narrative because too many are to blame

jcorqian

April 26th, 2012 at 8:54 PM ^

I totally agree with that.  I'm still trying to understand it fully myself, despite being somewhat immersed in that world here in NYC and surrounded by people who witnessed it firsthand.  I think this documentary does the best job of condensing everything into a narrative that can easily be understood by most people.

buddhafrog

April 26th, 2012 at 8:54 PM ^

Thanks for the link.  FRONTLINE is such a fantastic show.  I live overseas and didn't know this was the recent documentary topic.  I'll be watching today.