Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis

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source: Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis

This appears to be a very competent and professional documentary, until you get towards the conclusion where all of the heroes miraculously turn out to be democrats. The republicans merely stumbled their way through this tumultuous event and were graciously saved by the democrats. Nancy Pelosi - Hero, John McCain - idiot, Barack Obama - Hero, George W. - idiot (save for the wisdom of the democrats he listened to). You know when your narrator is fiction writer, Andrew Sorkin, that you are getting more showbiz than real unbiased content. Directed by John Maggio who has done more content for NPR than anything else, so you know you are getting some serious left leaning material. Of course in the final few minutes they all roll their eyes as they show video of a Trump rally.

'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

"Panic: The Untold Story of the 20098 financial Crisis" (2018 release; 96 min.) is a documentary on the roots of the 2008 financial crisis, how the crisis itself unfolded, and most importantly, the unintended long-term consequences of it all. As the documentary opens, we are "September 11, 2018", as all of the main players from a decade earlier get together for a remembrance dinner. We then go back to "May 9, 2006", not long after Henk Paulson has joined the Bush administration as the Treasury Secretary, and the market is showing signs of a housing bubble. It sets into motion a financial crisis of unimaginable proportions. At this point we are 10 min. into the film. Couple of comments: the film makers concentrate on the three main guys: then Treasury Secretary Henk Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. These three band together as a triumvirate and rarely decide anything without consulting each other. Interestingly, all three make clear that they are motivated to do whatever it takes to avoid another Great Depression. Of course many others are featured as well. Several things are striking: (i) when facing calamity, the political leaders in Washington came together and acted in a bipartisan way that is simply and utterly unthinkable in today's climate; (ii) "we should've done a better job explaining to the public what we were doing", sighs Paulson, and he is right of course; mostly lost in the narrative of the financial industry's bailout is the inconvenient truth that all of the $700 billion TARP bailout money was repaid WITH INTEREST to the US government; (iii) perhaps most surprisingly, former President George W. Bush comes across as a calming yet resolute leader who lets the experts do their job (meaning, the complete opposite of the current POTUS). The last 15 min. of the documentary are the most revealing, as it just "the straight line between the the financial crisis and the populism in today's politics, linked by the rise of the Tea Party starting in 2009. It is absolutely devastating to see how in just a single decade we are now living in a world of untruths, disinformation, lies, conspiracy theorists, the real v. imagined "deep state", and the shocking incompetence and complete lack of leadership coming from the current POTUS and his administration. Meanwhile, "Panic: The Untold Truth of the 2008 Financial Crisis" is a riveting documentary that contains a lot of valuable lessons to understand how we got where we are today.

Looks like they funded this in part? Certainly appears to be slanted. Documentary?

So much that is done discussing 2008 is intensely ideological and biased. This is much better than that.

First, the initial vote in Congress was on a 3-page plan and that's why it was rejected by angry congressmen who were willing to know how the money would be spend. There is no mentioning that the Congress requested Bernanke to present a detailed plan and a few days later it was accepted. Secondly, under Bernanke the treasury and SEC were doing virtually nothing to monitor financial institutions and to alarm the public. All of a sudden the credit rating agencies that failed to properly assess risks before announced a massive downgrade of 400+ companies at once, which triggered the huge panic. And finally, Paulson did very little to prevent a crisis in 2007 and could push much stronger to cap bonuses and CEO's salaries and did very little, nothing to be proud of. GWB proved his incompetence in selecting a treasure secretary as in almost everything else he did. Those "heroes" brought significant wealth to their friends among bankers and robbed millions.

I thought this documentary was a great re-telling and explanation of all the moving parts of the '08 financial crisis. Having the key players interviewed and explain their thought processes was a good way to tell the story. The obligatory Holly-weird anti-Trump nonsense at the end of the film was wholly unnecessary and seemed beyond oddly out of place. But, what else can we expect from Holly-weird these days than to blame anything on Trump. Aside from the absurd connection of Trump to the '08 financial crisis, the film was very good.

I like to watch vice reports but it's impossible to hear anyone talking through that ridiculous music they insist on playing during the whole movie.