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The Big Short -Movie

OK, saw it, liked it, though not the reality of the corruption. Left me wondering what would have happened if the banks hadn't been bailed out.
 
We'd have the system we should have then, Rod.
 
so from what i've heard, part of the premise is that the language of finance is so confusing to the average person (by deliberate design), that we don't get what's going on and therefore can't participate in the discussion, or provide proper critique (the average person is too intimidated by financial complexities to ask questions and make informed judgements). the makers of the movie claim it will rectify that, and provide non finance people with enough knowledge to understand what has been and is going on. as i said, haven't seen it yet, but for those who have - does it succeed in that regard? if so, it is potentially a very important movie.
 
littlebeast said:
so from what i've heard, part of the premise is that the language of finance is so confusing to the average person (by deliberate design), that we don't get what's going on and therefore can't participate in the discussion, or provide proper critique (the average person is too intimidated by financial complexities to ask questions and make informed judgements). the makers of the movie claim it will rectify that, and provide non finance people with enough knowledge to understand what has been and is going on. as i said, haven't seen it yet, but for those who have - does it succeed in that regard? if so, it is potentially a very important movie.
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I don't think the financial industry creates these terms with the goal of confusing the American people. I think they do so because it sounds fancy. Big words make anyone sound smart, big combined words make you trust someone. I don't think it is devious in it's inception.

The movie does a good job explaining the terminology specific to the meltdown, but there isn't A LOT to it. They go over a handful of terms and do it well, but not to the point it will help remove the confusion from the financial markets/government economics for anyone.

POSSIBLE SPOILER BELOW BUT PROBABLY NOT IDK MY BFF JILL READ AT OWN RISK KBYE :twofinger

Remember, this movie isn't so much about how the government was duped/complicit or even the story of the big banks being greedy (we already know that). This story is about the few that figured the whole thing out early and "shorted" the cause of the meltdown. How their situations played out and what it took for them to pull it off.
 
I think the movie is important since it shows how the great recession started. I think it could be shown in schools in future High school economics classes. The Great Recession was created by the banks.:afm199
 
littlebeast said:
so from what i've heard, part of the premise is that the language of finance is so confusing to the average person (by deliberate design), that we don't get what's going on and therefore can't participate in the discussion, or provide proper critique (the average person is too intimidated by financial complexities to ask questions and make informed judgements). the makers of the movie claim it will rectify that, and provide non finance people with enough knowledge to understand what has been and is going on. as i said, haven't seen it yet, but for those who have - does it succeed in that regard? if so, it is potentially a very important movie.
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Yes they do a great job, the movie is really well made
 
enki said:
Don't you mean thanks Bill Clinton and Phil Gramm? A bipartisan demolition of Glass-Steagall that allows banks to gamble in the market.
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And yet people duke it out FOR these crooks when behind the scenes for these players it doesn't matter who is Democrat and who is Republican. It is all about the money.
 
Finally watched it this weekend. Ashamed to admit the book has been on my radar for a while and I haven't picked it up yet. Very good movie. Intense. I always knew Steve Carell was funny. Who knew he could act as well? Lots of really great scenes. Stripper with 5 properties, Vegas douchebags, Street with every other house for sale, Florida loan merchants, Office of the S&P, Brad Pitt's lecture in the casino.

What a mess that whole situation was and why has only one person gone to jail for all of this?

If you liked this movie check out : Inside Job. It won academy award and is more technical but fairly easy to follow, terminology-wise.
 
billswim said:
Finally watched it this weekend. Ashamed to admit the book has been on my radar for a while and I haven't picked it up yet. Very good movie. Intense. I always knew Steve Carell was funny. Who knew he could act as well? Lots of really great scenes. Stripper with 5 properties, Vegas douchebags, Street with every other house for sale, Florida loan merchants, Office of the S&P, Brad Pitt's lecture in the casino.

What a mess that whole situation was and why has only one person gone to jail for all of this?

If you liked this movie check out : Inside Job. It won academy award and is more technical but fairly easy to follow, terminology-wise.
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He was pretty F'n good as crazy John Dupont in "Foxcatcher"...
 
Watched it last night. Great movie.

Maybe 10 years ago, a friend of ours was a mortgage broker, and said he could get us financed, no stated income, no money down, for any house we wanted. Adjustable rate, "but you can always refi later" for a better rate. I wasn't comfortable with that (my mother was a real estate broker) and I had never heard of anything like it before. So we passed. He also offered to help me get into the mortgage brokering business, but, the combination of my background, and the fact that I thought it was some hinky shit, I just kept up my piddly-ass machining career. I'm glad I did, he eventually lost everything, his old ladies' mother's house, his house, his job, everything.

Edit: He was our friend through my wife's church, the cult with the most money. I wonder how many church members lost their houses? When they demanded a titheing meeting (the last day she ever went to that church, please bring your tax returns), they had told us that if we ever had a problem and lost our jobs and couldn't make our mortgage payment, they would help us. I also wonder how many members they "helped" when the mortgage crisis hit?
 
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Awesome movie. Now they need to make one about the fact that Lloyd Blankfein had his own short operation going even before these guys. I know because I was offer a position in it in 2005!!!
 
My sister was doing mortgages and buying/selling REOs at the auction, with her business that went under of course. The lack of regulations back then were insane. I remember hearing how they were putting money in bank accounts of clients to show they had funds to get them to qualify then withdrawal once loan was approved.

Like the to two douches they interviewed, majority of lenders had no clue what they were offering their clients, they couldnt see the forest through the trees. All assumed incomes and home values would keep going up to compensate for when the loan would adjust.

The sketchy terms and "products" the financial system creates kinda makes me sick. Bespoke tranche opportunity is the new CDO.

http://www.ethicssage.com/2015/12/bespoke-tranche-opportunity-its-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu-all-over-again.html
 
Dubbington said:
My sister was doing mortgages and buying/selling REOs at the auction, with her business that went under of course. The lack of regulations back then were insane. I remember hearing how they were putting money in bank accounts of clients to show they had funds to get them to qualify then withdrawal once loan was approved.

Like the to two douches they interviewed, majority of lenders had no clue what they were offering their clients, they couldnt see the forest through the trees. All assumed incomes and home values would keep going up to compensate for when the loan would adjust.

The sketchy terms and "products" the financial system creates kinda makes me sick. Bespoke tranche opportunity is the new CDO.

http://www.ethicssage.com/2015/12/bespoke-tranche-opportunity-its-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-vu-all-over-again.html
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Fortunate for her she was not targeted by the Feds. someone I work with had to go visit his son in Atwater for over a year for similar games, one of his associates ended up there for 5 years. Greed's appetite is never satiated.
 
I saw it Christman day and the theatre was packed, mostly by folks my age and even older so I knew it was going to be good and informative but I look forward to seeing it again, privately eventually on dvd, so I can pause, reflect and play again. I like how celebrities took cameo roles to help break it down in kind of laymen terms but most of us knew there was another ripoff without necessarily being able to say with credibility exactly why.
I knew the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act was dangerous territory from listening to the Thom Hartmann show and his weekly guest Bernie Sanders, who has been pointing the finger at Wall Street for sometime. I still find it hard to believe, and btw love the scene in Vegas in the movie, finding it hard to believe that so many people whose job it is to know economics and finance, did not see it coming, and even more unbelieveable, as has already been stated, that next to nobody has been made accountable for the whole manufactured crisis.
 
Interesting flick. Weird how they followed their gut, did their homework, made the short and almost still screwed it up.
I find it hard to believe the Burry character was even close to as odd they made him out. Maybe just a little bit of Hollywood added in there
 
Blankpage said:
Interesting flick. Weird how they followed their gut, did their homework, made the short and almost still screwed it up.
I find it hard to believe the Burry character was even close to as odd they made him out. Maybe just a little bit of Hollywood added in there
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I think all those characters were a bit over the top to make the movie more interesting.
 
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