Inside Job!

Anotherlimey

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I'm just starting to watch this docu film, it's a M.Moore style film that has great acclaim, has anyone seen it and have opinions?

Much has been said about bankers and thier role in our current situation, this film even after only watching partly has shocked me even more than i was before, it makes you so angry that people have been allowed to treat society in such a way for thier personal gain.

YouTube - INSIDE JOB Official Trailer in HD!
 
The start of this film is about Iceland, the country was a model econemy of about 13 billion a year, the three national banks were privatised and then decided to loan 100 billion for varios reasons and then it went tits up, Iceland within six months triped in unemployment.

Sound familiar? some poeple in Iceland took a very big gamble, a gamble that went wrong, what happened, well they stayed very rich while the real population had thier working conditions cut and one in three lost thier jobs.

Are there still people on this forum that defend bankers and what they have done? for gods sake how are we all in this together?
 
1.40 ish in there is a comment 'it's a Wall St Government'
and that was true of all western world countries. Everyone knocks Gordon brown for not regulating the banks, but usefully they forget two things.

No one was prepared to move first, because they believed the threats the bankers made about throwing their toys out of the pram and moving away.

Up to this point, they always got what they wanted because they were perceived as very powerful and we actually believed they were honest. (Well up until when the members of the Board of RBS sat there and looked a Parliamentary committee straight in the eye and told the world that as far as they were concerned, the NatWest3 hadn't committed any crime. :rolleyes:)
 
Quality! Once the banks fooked up 700 billion of tax payers moneys was paid out to get them out of the shat, lets remember these are the people living the life of riley, me and you? well we ruduce our wage and face less public services and everything else we rely on, anyone want to defend these people?
 
Here is a little more anotherlimey. related to the films director
YouTube - INSIDE JOB: New Documentary Exposes How 'Banksters' Continue To Steal Our Money
YouTube - Charles Ferguson: "Inside Job"
YouTube - An Interview With Charles Ferguson

Unfortunately there are still people who choose to blame the previous Government for our predicament and ignore the true root causes.What is particularly shameful is that having elected Obama as the great hope for the american people he has let them down by not prosecuting all those wall street sociopaths who have caused people to lose their homes, their jobs and who affected other countries including our own.To my mind the worst thing that happened during the eighties was the deregulation of the banking system both here and in the USA which basically gave carte blanche to investment bankers to take cavalier risks with other peoples money and to act in ways which could be called corrupt free in the knowledge that no one would blow the whistle on them.I think this documentary is a very welcome breath of fresh air which will hopefully flush out the guilty ones on both sides of the Atlantic.
 
The top 5 directors of Lehmans brothers took 1 billion in bonus when the company failed, yes not a bonus for doing well, but money to leave in shame, that's 200 million each?

And some people here defend them and thier like and say i should take a hit for the greater good?

I dont mind taking a hit to help society but come on? :rolleyes:
 
But lets be honest, its not just the Bankers any more is it? The bonus culture, which underpins all that is wrong in finance, has spread its slimy trail throughout the West's entire business culture. Education and health are contaminated too.

Why does a Vice Chancellor of a University need a bonus package? They get thumping good T&Cs as it is. Why do we have to add a bonus into the package of someone earning half a million quid per year? If I employed someone at that rate of remuneration, I would expect them to do their very best. But the bonus culture is quite explicit. Pay me half a million quid pa and I will only do my best if you pay a bonus on top of that. So what makes them worth their basic salary if they are not doing the best job they can?

And then the bonus culture leads to incredible short term-ism. Screw the company down this year and the figures will give a one off really impressive result that will trigger a huge bonus payout. And next year?

If there is one over-riding thing that is definably bad and is 100% attributable to the financial sector it is the bonus culture and the harm it does to society.
 
But lets be honest, its not just the Bankers any more is it? The bonus culture, which underpins all that is wrong in finance, has spread its slimy trail throughout the West's entire business culture. Education and health are contaminated too.

as i aluded on another thread.It doesnt matter to me whether they be in the public or private sector.Fact is these slimeballs lead a charmed existence far removed from the rest of us, in a world where its every man for himself and devils takes the hindmost.
Why does a Vice Chancellor of a University need a bonus package? They get thumping good T&Cs as it is. Why do we have to add a bonus into the package of someone earning half a million quid per year? If I employed someone at that rate of remuneration, I would expect them to do their very best. But the bonus culture is quite explicit. Pay me half a million quid pa and I will only do my best if you pay a bonus on top of that. So what makes them worth their basic salary if they are not doing the best job they can?

The usual mealy mouthed arguement is that you have to "pay the going rate" to attract them and then provide them with incentives to do anything at all
And then the bonus culture leads to incredible short term-ism. Screw the company down this year and the figures will give a one off really impressive result that will trigger a huge bonus payout. And next year?

now you are becoming cynical John :laugh:

If there is one over-riding thing that is definably bad and is 100% attributable to the financial sector it is the bonus culture and the harm it does to society.
i agree totally.Wouldnt mind so much if the bonuses were only paid when a company is succesful and is spread right across the board but it seems that only the trough feeders are entitled to it
 
But lets be honest, its not just the Bankers any more is it? The bonus culture, which underpins all that is wrong in finance, has spread its slimy trail throughout the West's entire business culture. Education and health are contaminated too.

Why does a Vice Chancellor of a University need a bonus package? They get thumping good T&Cs as it is. Why do we have to add a bonus into the package of someone earning half a million quid per year? If I employed someone at that rate of remuneration, I would expect them to do their very best. But the bonus culture is quite explicit. Pay me half a million quid pa and I will only do my best if you pay a bonus on top of that. So what makes them worth their basic salary if they are not doing the best job they can?

And then the bonus culture leads to incredible short term-ism. Screw the company down this year and the figures will give a one off really impressive result that will trigger a huge bonus payout. And next year?

If there is one over-riding thing that is definably bad and is 100% attributable to the financial sector it is the bonus culture and the harm it does to society.

So true.

Also, when a CEO performs badly for the fiscal term does he/she still get a big fat bonus?
 
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not sure whether this link works better than the last one but in any case i have just watched the film, and was truly shocked at the sheer scale of what went on.By and large it focuses on Wall street and the effect the crisis had on the American people.In short there have been 10 million foreclosures with another 9 million predicted.None of those responsible have been criminalised or suffered any financial loss.Instead they walked away with tens of millions, sometimes 100 of millions of dollars.As for Obama, he is nothing but a Wall street president who has failed to regulate the financial sector and who has reappointed many of the very same people who were involved in the scandal.
For the first time ever the current generation of ordinary American people are actually worse off then their parents. Many who lost their homes are now living in tents as their jobs disappeared.The only sectors that is booming is IT but thousands of young people cant afford university education fees which have escalated to about $12000 per year.The lack of education and joblessness looks set to remain for sometime whilst the richest become ever richer.Its a disgrace that hopefully could be rectified if enough people watch this movie and then p[ut pressure for reform maybe even forming a third political party.No good relying on either the Democrat or Republican parties as they are mired in it. The Tea party is nothing but a sick joke so forget them

i hope one day soon a British film maker will see fit to broadcast a similar kind of documentary about our very own financial sector so we can see for ourselves the true extent of what went on and who we can point the finger of blame at.I am resolutely convinced there are individuals who should be indicted ,if Inside Job is anything to go by.I mean can you imagine any one selling you a product and then betting AGAINST it because he knows its a piece of crap? Until we are all fully cognizant of the facts and the right measures are put in place so that this never happens again and the bonus culture is once and for all smashed, I for one will never trust bankers. They are for sure the trough feeding scum of the modern age who have harmed even destroyed the lives of many decent ordinary working people, people who trusted them, believed them and now their dreams are nothing but dust.:mad:
 
The biggest swindle of all time, it may take another 20/40 years but it will happen again and probably just after we have paid for this one.

I wonder how many of the swindlers sons & daughters currently being educated with the loot will be tomorrows leaders allowing it to happen again.
 
It could be that they are all being so bloody cynical about filling their boots at the moment because they realise that this will be the only chance they ever have. Give it 20 years and the financial powerhouses will be over in the far east, China India and the other tiger economies. And you really would not want to do to the Chinese Government what happened over here, they tend to shoot people who betray the trust given to them by society.

So for the forseeable future we can expect to continue the financial markets to continue as normal until the last pounds/euros/dollars have been bled form the economy and there is nothing left with which to pay these well earned bonuses (well they have gone above and way beyond the call of duty in screwing us).
 
It could be that they are all being so bloody cynical about filling their boots at the moment because they realise that this will be the only chance they ever have. Give it 20 years and the financial powerhouses will be over in the far east, China India and the other tiger economies. And you really would not want to do to the Chinese Government what happened over here, they tend to shoot people who betray the trust given to them by society.

They do but the same problems apply as before. China is successful because (currency valuation aside) it accepts the "rules" of the market. Were a future banking meltdown to happen there, the Chinese economy would also require a bailout or other extraordinary measure. They might shoot a few perps but the result of a crisis would be the same.

Film looks OK- been done before a few times though. After all the hand wringing and cheery rhetoric, there is no alteration to the line that everybody who took on a subprime mortgage was some poor thicko, too stupid to understand the consequences. Can't help but think that this line, whilst convenient in making sure that the evil overlord line sticks is both patronising and wrong.
 
Can't help but think that this line, whilst convenient in making sure that the evil overlord line sticks is both patronising and wrong.

True enough. For maybe 10 - 15 years commentators have being telling us that the overheated housing market presented a real and present danger. But then other punters would come along and tell us that a healthy housing market was good, if not vital, for the economy.

But then the experts whipped everyone up into such a fervour re how good an investment hosing was that there was no choice for most, but to believe it. And it was on the back of that line that Banks and their ilk were able to get away with selling mortgages to everyone. We believed the experts, they made loads of dosh.

But then the banks started to realise that actually everything was going to go pear shaped. It can't be a coincidence that 10 years ago a notable proportion of new PhDs with an analytical/statistical/mathematical background were suddenly employed in the Square Mile. It would be very hard to defend against the view that these people were employed with the sole objective of making the financial instruments they worked on so complicated that no-one would ever really be able to understand them. So the sub-prime crisis was hidden from view for much longer and the selling continued.

In much the same way as some of the big finance houses were fingered not so long ago for helping Greece disguise the enormity of its problems from world scrutiny. The politicians couldn't have done it themselves and 'The Experts' were happy to hide the truth (while no doubt reversing quietly and unobtrusively out of any exposed positions they may have had).

Politicians and Financiers, lovely people.
 
Thing is though that judged by the current definition, my first mortgage was "sub prime." My ability to repay it in the event of a significant rate rise from its original 3.79% was marginal. By the time the two year fixed was up, I was easily able to handle the new 5.75% rate. Nobody that agreed that first mortgage would have known that at the time. Countless thousands of us got our break during this period of supposed fiscal outrage. We're homeowners because of it, not in spite of it.
 
Politicians and Financiers, lovely people.

yup ! there was a time when they had a degree of probity, or at least one liked to think they had.
In some way liberalising the housing market did help a lot of people in the early stages during the eighties when council houses were sold at 33% discounts.I myself was a beneficiary.Even so getting my first mortgage was not easy as most building societies we went to didnt want to know.eventually we found an FA who found us an endowment policy which put us on the ladder and we never looked back. Having done that we never overstretched ourselves and maintained a 30k mortgage till it was finally paid off last year.We ere indeed very lucky as many others were.

Whats been happening in the last 15 or 20 years is of a very different order of magnitude, letting the housing market get out of control, like any bubble, would naturally end in disaster.Lots more housing association and/ or council rentals should have been built and people should have been encouraged to make other forms of investment and savings rather than borrow, borrow and borrow on the notion that their dream house would increase in value indefinitely .
What galls me the most about the subprime fiasco is the failure of the Obama administration to act on the perpetrators or to regulate that which so badly needs regulating.As the guy in the film said Obama is Wall streets president:thumbsdow.The American people themselves seem none the wiser preferring instead to focus their ire on his social programmes or some stupid tittle tattle.The odious Rush Limbaugh recently lambasted Michelle Obama for attending a social function where spare ribs were served. Apparently she is "guilty" of hypocrisy because she had been busily promoting the notion of healthy eating .Its just possible she never ate any but hey why let anything get in the way of a rant from one of Americas favourite pig faced radio jocks.:rolleyes:
 

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