As an accountant, I would highly recommend the documentary "Inside Job" as an education

[WCGreen]

on how the economic system became more and more dangerous...

It spells out derivatives and credit default swaps in a simple way so that even a person who knows nothing about finance could understand what was going on....


On edit, I added the qualifer that I am an accountant...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Where did you see it?

It certainly sounds interesting...

[WCGreen]

2. It's on Demand in my cable movie system...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I wonder if Netflix has it...

We don't have any of the premium channels now...we weren't watching them.

[smokey nj]

8. It does. I don't think it's on Netflix streaming, but you can get the DVD.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Thanks! We don't have the capability to stream yet, but DVD's work...

[Cerridwen]

11. You can also try your library.

Hey, CaliforniaPeggy.

I was fortunate enough to watch "Inside Job" while it was available online. My SO missed it so we went on the waiting list at the library for a copy of it. It took a while; but it eventually got here.

I completely agree with WCGreen. It does a great job of explaining and making the information accessible.

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Thanks for the tip,my dear Cerridwen!

I appreciate it!

:hi:

[Agony]

18. you can buy the DVD from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041KKYBA/

or watch it here
http://www.archive.org/details/JobInside

or reverse that order and then share the DVD with a friend (as suggested here--->http://www.insidejob.com/)

Cheerio!

[joeybee12]

3. I watched it not that long ago...I agree...they make it very easy to understand

how these things work...knr

[WCGreen]

4. It really isn't skewed...

It just presents facts and explanations.

[joeybee12]

5. It builds its case that way...

You can't help but come to the same conclusion, and no one out there refutes the facts it presents...

[sad sally]

7. That's a good one, and here's one to add,

called "Capitalism Hits the Fan" by University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff.

It's revealing to see how American workers productivity increases with no matching wage increases have created the enormous profits of US companies and what they've done with all that money. We know it hasn't been reinvested in more jobs for the workers here.

http://www.linktv.org/programs/capitalism-hits-the-fan?...

[WCGreen]

9. Productivity ended up in investors hands instead of the workers...

I am shocked, I tell you, Shocked...

The only thing I have to say on that is that the investors would claim productivity increases are driven by increased efficiency created by purchasing better means of production.

It didn't use to be like that.

When the Unions were strong, productivity was included in the negotiation process.

[sad sally]

15. Professor Wolfe points out how not only does the productivity

windfall end up in investors pockets, they in turn loan that money to the workers and charge hefty interest to boot. So, not only are workers screwed out of deserved wage increases for their working harder and faster, in order to maintain the same standard of living they would have realized with an increase in wages, they end up borrowing that money, plus, which puts them further behind.

Vicious cycle...

[WCGreen]

16. That is the worst cycle and it will eat at the soul of America if we

stand by and do nothing...

[Cerridwen]

12. K & R and a quick reminder that you can check your local library for a copy.

Thanks, WCGreen. :)

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I watched one on PBS called "Inside the Meltdown" that was a real eye opener.

You can watch online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown/view/

Introduction: On Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, the astonished leadership of the U.S. Congress was told in a private session by the chairman of the Federal Reserve that the American economy was in grave danger of a complete meltdown within a matter of days. "There was literally a pause in that room where the oxygen left," says Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).

[Bozita]

17. Great companion work is the CBC's "Meltdown" - link to video

A few months back, I watched "Inside Job." It was excellent. IMHO, "Meltdown" does it better.

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/meltdown/about.html

EPISODE GUIDE - HOST
Doc Zone has traveled the world - from Wall Street to Dubai to China - to investigate The Secret History of the Global Financial Collapse. Meltdown is the story of the bankers who crashed the world, the leaders who struggled to save it and the ordinary families who got crushed.

September 2008 launched an extraordinary chain of events:
General Motors, the world’s largest company, went bust.
Washington Mutual became the world’s largest bank failure.
Lehman Brothers became the world’s largest bankruptcy ever:

The damage quickly spread around the world, shattering global confidence in the fundamental structures of the international economy.

The CBC’s Terence McKenna takes viewers behind the headlines and into the backrooms at the highest levels of world governments and banking institutions, revealing the astonishing level of backstabbing and tension behind the scenes as the world came dangerously close to another Great Depression.

Meltdown also tells the stories of desperate foreclosed homeowners in California, disillusioned autoworkers at the end of the line in Ontario and furious workers in France who shocked the world by kidnapping their own bosses.

Since the financial meltdown began, trillions of dollars have been spent rescuing banks and jumpstarting economies, yet recovery remains fragile. Fears abound of a “double-dip” return to recession.

The millions around the world who lost homes and jobs are demanding answers: How did it all go so wrong? Who is to blame? They are angry because to date, only a few smalltime players have been held to account. No major banking, regulatory or government figures have yet been convicted of any wrongdoing.

Meltdown is the first comprehensive documentary portrait of the worst economic crisis of a generation.

PROMO - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWRphrYmj94&feature=rela... (33 seconds)

HOUR 1: The Men Who Crashed the World - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3xsr_W5JwI
Greed and recklessness by the titans of Wall Street triggers the largest financial crash since the Great Depression. It's left to US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, himself a former Wall Street banker, to try and avert further disaster.

HOUR 2: A Global Tsunami - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biU6QTYvnSs&feature=rela...
The meltdown's devastation ripples around the world from California to Iceland and China. Facing economic ruin, desperate world leaders are at each other's throats.

HOUR 3: Paying the Price - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eFdNMbOTg&feature=rela...
The victims of the meltdown fight back. In Iceland, protestors force a government to fall. In Canada, ripped off autoworkers occupy their plant. And in France, furious union members kidnap their bosses.

HOUR 4: After the Fall - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMKYn8l15IU&feature=rela...
Investigators begin to sift through the meltdown's rubble. Shaken world leaders question the very foundations of modern capitalism while asking: could it all happen again?

[secondwind]

19. We saw it in the movies, a fabulous documentary and easy to understand.