“Inside Job” Is a Must See

By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive, November 20, 2010

You’ve got to got see “Inside Job,” the documentary about how Wall Street brought down our economy.

Written and directed by Charles Ferguson and narrated by Matt Damon, it explains, step by step, each of the reckless and swindling moves that Wall Street investment bankers made with such devastating results.

Far better than Wall Street II, which was incomprehensible as far as the scandal goes, “Inside Job” explains this complex story in a clear and easy to follow manner that most high school students could understand.

It documents how the CEOs of the largest investment banks in the country gambled on housing derivatives that they knew were highly risky, misled investors about those risks, and made out like the bandits they are with grotesque bonuses.

As Ferguson points out, no one’s gone to jail. No one’s had to repay those bonuses or make whole those swindled investors. The scandal just goes on and on.

Ferguson gets clips from some of the leading players (who refused to be interviewed, as he tells us) and does a terrific job skewering some of the lesser ones who do agree to be interviewed. To help provide commentary, Ferguson enlists George Soros, Eliot Spitzer, and NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini.

Ferguson doesn’t just blame the Wall Street CEOs. “Inside Job” points out how the credit rating agencies were in on the scam, and how leading economists, including Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, were asleep at their textbooks.

What’s more, it shows how one President after another, from Reagan through Clinton and George W, deregulated Wall Street at enormous cost.

And how Obama has not done nearly enough in response.

Go see this movie. It’s a real eye-opener—and a stomach-turner.

If you liked this story by Matthew Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine, check out his story "Republicans Attack Fed to Help Banks."