Inside Job Reflection

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Recommended: The 2007-2008 financial crisis

During this crisis, millions of people lost their savings, job, and homes due to 2008 financial meltdown. The film exposes the root causes of the financial meltdown. It explores the players and mechanisms in the financial system such as: politicians, bankers, deregulation, academics, accounting firms, and credit rating agencies. Inside Job divides the story of the financial crisis in into five parts. This reaction paper will state a synopsis of each section and my reaction. Synopsis The introduction to the movie starts with examining how Iceland was deregulated and the nation’s three largest banks were privatized. These banks borrowed $120 billion dollars, which was 10 times the size of the country’s economy. The credit rating agencies gave Iceland’s banks and investment firms triple AAA ratings. When Iceland’s banks collapsed in 2008, unemployment tripled, individuals lost their jobs, and life savings. The first segment of the movie was “How We Got Here.” The financial industry was regulated until the 1980’s, then under President Reagan deregulation started. First, savings and loans companies were deregulated, which resulted in the savings and loans crisis which cost taxpayers $124 billion dollars and thousands executives received jail time. Investor’s loss again when the …show more content…

The key economic players in each of the pass five Presidential Administrations came from or had ties to Wall Street. For example Hank Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury at the time of the crisis was formerly the head of Goldman Sachs. One would think that he would favor legislation that would benefit Wall Street including deregulation even if it is a conflict of interest. Another conflict of interest is also the academic institutions, such as Harvard and Columbia. These individuals teaching the benefits of deregulated markets while serving as advisors and board members to the financial services

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