Inside Job

"If a bank forecloses on you, don't move and demand they produce a copy of your mortgage. In many cases, they can't." Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)

In the course of the angry and benignly biased documentary, Inside Job, Marcy Kaptur predicts what is happening right now: Banks are being forced to halt foreclosures because of faulty paperwork. But such mistakes are only a symptom Charles Ferguson reveals of the 2008 world-wide financial crisis, which involves high-ranking government officials like Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner increasing their power while the policies they make cause certain harm to the people like us who have trusted them.

Like Fergusin's No End in Sight about the Iraq War, but more interesting and dramatic, Inside Job lays out logically the participation also of George Bush and Barack Obama in the global meltdown. Dispiriting are the derivative dispersal and shameful sub-prime lending that directly led to the breakdown of middle-class wealth while the purveyors of this massacre walked away with billions and no indictments. The Ponzi schemes of Kenneth Lay, Bernie Madoff, and their ilk are but small components of the charade that drew millions of hard-working, well-meaning citizens into debt and financial ruin as the value of their most cherished retirement vehicle, home value, dissipated right in front of their eyes.

Ferguson's documentary style is to remain behind the camera while letting the notables indict themselves. Unlike Michael Moore, he cares not to intrude or make a character of himself, something like Citizen Kane's reporter Thompson. Except when in a moment of profound pique he challenges the disaffection of Frederic Mishkin, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors: "I'm sorry, I'm sure that your textbook is important and widely read, but didn't you think that more important things were going on in the world?"

Unlike the recent screed of Davis Guggenheim against organized education in Waiting for Superman, in which teachers' unions could do no right and charter schools no wrong, Ferguson seems more honest in presenting only the facts. As I demanded of him to present the other side of the financial crisis, I couldn't think of what he could say to counter the welter of facts indicting those in front of his camera.

One of the most telling moments is that of Bush's Chief Economic Adviser, Glenn Hubbard: "You have three more minutes. Give it your best shot!" That arrogance informs the documentary and our grim lives for the foreseeable future.

There is no possible way that all of the contributors to the financial meltdown can get adequate attention in a two-hour documentary. There were many factors involved, and some get short shrift in the film to focus on what would be easily comprehensible by most viewers, and, one can safely assume, to fit the biases of the producers, director, writers, etc. It's their movie, after all, and no documentary can avoid the bias trap. None that I have seen anyway.

Think of the film as a departure point. If one is really interested, they will dig deeper into the question through other documentaries and books on the subject. There will be plenty in the years ahead. More evidence will come to light, and more questions will be answered.

Let it be said that this film will make you angry. It will also make you a more informed individual and a better citizen.

It is not easy to get through two hours of discussion on why the financial meltdown occurred, but this film is probably the most painless way to do it. and it did it very well.

A few days after it won the Oscar I got to see this film and I can see why it won. Not only is it of its time but it goes after the villains of the day and does so in a way that is accessible without being dumbed down and is indignant without ever becoming the sort of "bang the drum" anger of Michael Moore. There were a couple of quotes that hit home with me: "what can we believe in? There is nothing we can trust anymore" said one commentator on the feeling of the public when the collapses started and, in regards the aftermath of it all another said simply "the poorest, as always, pay the most". These two quotes stayed with me because this film is the type of one that will make you angry – angry at injustice, angry at how it could have been allowed to happen and angry that rules that apply to you and I somehow don't apply to those with money and power.

However I didn't feel angry and the reason I didn't is because the film is much better put together than that. Anger comes from emotion and I don't always like it when a documentary starts pulling emotional strings on me. Mostly Inside Job lets the facts speak for themselves and, in doing so it left me quite incredulous, so quite amazed at the scale of things that I couldn't get worked up – it was more a matter of "shock". The saying is safety in numbers and Inside Job very quickly lets us in on why that title was chosen – because there appears to be nobody here who is guilt free. While many of the players understandably refused to be interviewed for this film, Ferguson does make the most of the access he does get and uses these interviews to illustrate key things as the narrator (Matt Damon) unfolds events along the timelines.

So we of course get interviews that fill in the details but more tellingly we get people who unwittingly demonstrate the sort of apathy and self-interest that contributed towards the global crisis. Politics is in the target of course because the names just all seem to change seats every few years and, although one would love to believe that someone coming into politics can cut these conflict of interests, the film shows literally millions of reasons why this is not a realistic thing to expect. The film also adds a new target to the mix by looking at the relationship between the banks and funds and academia. Knowledgeable professors and the like are put on the spot and it is hard not to enjoy it while they squirm, get shifty, shirty or just plain look uncomfortable. I'm not sure if my favourite is the guy paid by Iceland to right a study on their economy (conclusion? It's awesome!) when it is pointed out that the title (Financial Stability in Iceland) is retrospectively titled "Instability" when it comes to his CV listing, or the guy who denies any conflict of interest with people being paid by the organisations they are writing independent studies or when he is asked a hypothetical about medical research & pharmaceutical companies and has to wrestle himself to avoid the phrase "conflict of interest" in his answer.

The footage behind and around the contributions (themselves well shot) is engaging as well and the film does look good. The editing down and use of all the footage is impressive – it makes its point, keeps things punchy without feeling like people are being cut off and only once or twice did I feel that the answers or statements were being perhaps a little unfairly edited. Despite this though all of it is engaging, enthralling and rather sickening. Those hoping for a happy ending should be praised for their naivety but warned of watching this, because this is an inside job – the poor will lose what little they have and the middle majority will continue to look up to those in charge telling us about change and reform while acquiring a greater and greater percentage of the world's wealth.

A very well put together documentary that engaged me to the point that I almost forgot how incredibly depressing it all is.

About 30 people at the 7PM show in the Music Box theater in Chicago last nite, and I was one of them.

I am always looking for two things on this economic disaster: 1) A better understanding, and 2) a means of explaining it better to others. This film delivers in both counts.

For me the key sequence came when the graphics, under solid narration, illustrated how 3rd tier investors were placing bets on bets. I.e., that's what derivatives are. I always knew this was happening, but the film made it very clear. That was the break point (in my analysis of the problem).

The film was nearly void of political leanings, which made it an important contribution. The only part that bothered me is that Congressman Barney Frank was framed as an expert looking back with wisdom on the ill-conceived passage of the "Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000", and, behold! Barney Frank *voted* for it. It would be better to interview all 4 Congressmen who voted against it: Ron Paul, Nick Smith, Gene Taylor and Peter DeFazio. [2 from each Party! How's that for Bipartism opposition? It took me 10 minutes to confirm these names, and I'm not even making a movie.]

It is significant that a continuum of hoodlums are seen on the podium with a continuum of Prsidents: Regan through Obama. The infestation of their ilk into the Political World is there for all to see.

Please see this film any way you can, and lock it in!

Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job" is strong, fair, and rational. The director tries mightily to untangle the complex architecture of the financial meltdown that has cost millions their jobs, their homes, and their savings. If you consider skipping it because it sounds boring, please think again. My blood is still boiling.

Why does this documentary leave us sunk in despair? Because it confirms the certainty that there is no one left we can trust. The fact that much of what brought the economy to its knees was legal, not criminal, signals a financial sector run by ethical nihilists who will pursue every legal loophole to enrich themselves. Human nature, you say? Then bring back the stringent regulation that gave the industry forty years of reasonable corporate success before Reagan era deregulation. The schoolyard bullies need supervision.

America's bubble of private gain and public loss was pierced by the collapse of Lehman Bros. and AIG. Banks merged into "too big to fail" behemoths; safeguards were overturned; regulation of derivatives was banned; This vacuum quickly filled with money laundering, defrauding of customers, cooking the books, and stuffing of the pockets of top officers with money. Larry Summers took 20 million as adviser to a hedge fund. Lehman's CEO took 485 million, the CEO of the failing AIG 315 million. Fired by Merrill, CEO Stan O'Neal departed with a severance bonus of 161 million.

When Mortgages were bundled and sold to the bloated investment banks, lenders no longer cared if they were repaid. Goldman, Lehman, and Merrill were all players. Summers, Bernanke, and Geithner all stood against corrective measures and would play pivotal roles in the Obama administration.

Absent limits on the impulsive risk takers, Wall Street plunged into personal pleasure. There was never enough: penthouses on Park, private jets (six for Lehman alone), vacation homes, art collections, drivers, private elevators, drugs, alcohol, strip bars, and prostitution - one private supplier within spitting distance of the stock exchange counted 10,000 men among her customers..

Three ratings agencies made fortunes bestowing unwarranted ratings right up to two days before Lehman failed, later testifying before congress that these were merely "opinions", not guides for investors. The crowning disgrace is the corruption of the universities. Business school professors consult with companies. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School, takes $250,000 as a board member of Met Life. Larry Summers, back at Harvard, continues to rake in consulting and lecture fees.

The presidents of Harvard and Columbia refused comment. You will appreciate the honesty of Raghuram Rajan who wrote strong warnings and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who spoke with disgust of the debacle.

It used to be that respected academics could be counted on to be the conscience of democracy. Now they are reduced to being interchangeable components in the conflict of interest chain that links business/government/university. Credit Charles Ferguson with a superb investigation and give thanks that we still have a free investigative press to wake the sleeping citizenry.