Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. I’m so excited because we have a little over a month left of school and then it’s summer break. I’m really looking forward to it this year. Even though we had a mild winter, it just seems like we’ve had cold weather for a very long time. It’s just starting to warm up here in Michigan.
Hubby and I watched a movie over the weekend, “The Big Short.” It was about what happened in the banking industry around 2006-2007. It was eye-opening to say the least. I’m going to watch it again, it was that good.
The premise of the story is how the banking industry committed fraud by bundling mortgages together and claiming they were rated highly (which means they were safe), when in actuality they were junk. Those same people made millions by betting these bundled mortgages would fail. They knew they would because they created the bundles with junk in the first place, yet none of them went to jail or even had a trial. How can this be?
Things like this happen all around us. Yet it seems to me the American people get distracted by superficial problems. Like the bathroom issue regarding transgendered people or a certain celebrity behaving badly. These problems are screamed about via the media and the corruption gets swept under the rug.
The thing is if it’s happening at that level, it’s got to be everywhere. Who does this hurt? Us. The middle income wage earner. Many people lost their homes and jobs during that time because they defaulted on their loans. The housing bubble burst and home values took a nose dive. Many people who tried to sell their home couldn’t price it properly to cover the mortgage amount they owed.
All this time the people who perpetrated this fraud made millions. That makes me sick to think they were so greedy, they allowed innocent people to lose their homes. We need to become more aware and better educated so this doesn’t happen again.
I also wonder why they got away with it. Why aren’t they being held accountable? If anyone can explain it to me, I’d love hear it. Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. And check out this movie, it was very well done. I’m going to watch it again, that’s for sure.
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It was a very good movie though at times I felt I needed an economics degree. I left the movie theatre feeling very sad and feeling very unsettled for the future.
I know what you mean, Bernadette. It makes me nervous, too! Thanks for stopping by.
Lisa, I have not seen the movie yet but upon your recommendation wish to do so. Thanks.
Yes. Definitely check it out. It explains what happened with the banking industry and the housing market. This explains why we need to keep our eyes open so this type of fraud doesn’t happen again. 🙂
Watch Inside Job, a documentary made in 2010 that covers the same subject without the dramatization. Also read Griftopia by Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone columnist), and Too Big to Fail by Andrew Sorkin (good history but kind of a whitewash of the major players). The best, most informative book, in my opinion, although it’s academic and dry in places is Thirteen Bankers by James Kwak and Simon Johnson. This is a very thorough and insightful indictment of the banking system and if you manage to slog through it you will know more about the subject than anyone you know and everyone in Congress. You are right to point out that this is way more important than who is using what public restroom and we the people have a right not to be distracted by BS when so much is at stake. Good luck with your studies.
Thanks for stopping by Jonah. I appreciate the recommended books. I will definitely look into them and so will my hubby.He’s very interested in this as well. 🙂