Panic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial Crisis

Don't believe a word of this crap. Oh, you can believe the part about how the world economy collapsed in 2008. Let's call that the forest fire that burned down the world economy. Now, how did the fire start? Camp fire? Lightening? No. It was deliberately set by arsonists. Now imagine all those arsonists getting together and talking about how bad the fire was. And how they saved so many of us from being engulfed by that fire. What balls...

The first match that was lit for this economic inferno was the passage of the Graham/Leach/Bliley Congressional Bill of 1999. You know who didn't suffer one penny during this financial meltdown? Bankers!!! This may not the the first time a bank robbery was committed by the BANK against citizens, but it sure was the biggest and most egregious. Make a documentary about that HBO!

First, the initial vote in Congress was on a 3-page plan and that's why it was rejected by angry congressmen who were willing to know how the money would be spend. There is no mentioning that the Congress requested Bernanke to present a detailed plan and a few days later it was accepted. Secondly, under Bernanke the treasury and SEC were doing virtually nothing to monitor financial institutions and to alarm the public. All of a sudden the credit rating agencies that failed to properly assess risks before announced a massive downgrade of 400+ companies at once, which triggered the huge panic. And finally, Paulson did very little to prevent a crisis in 2007 and could push much stronger to cap bonuses and CEO's salaries and did very little, nothing to be proud of. GWB proved his incompetence in selecting a treasure secretary as in almost everything else he did. Those "heroes" brought significant wealth to their friends among bankers and robbed millions.

This Documentary is made as good as you can make it about a very big problem that was felt all around the world. What is more important then the artistic perspection is the story, and for those of us who care (US or non- US), to know how the crysis started, and how efforts were put in to downsize it's effects! It's presented from the inside, from the Government's perspective, and if you put politics and masses psychology aside, you will get a real feel about the effects of the actions that some people make for the greater good.

Really professional documentary with all the key players involved, certainly giving me an insight into the motivations and hard work behind keeping the US and probably the world economy afloat. However...what was disappointing was the lack of challenge to the actions that took place, the lack of a counter view. All we got was the acknowledgement that they realised their actions were unpopular, but they maintained they were necessary.

The government, financial watchdogs and banks caused the recession due to a combination of actions. Successive governments starting with Reagan and leading to the present day have removed the "checks and balances" that were in place to prevent another depression. Where are the consequences for these people?

• How can any system & country be in a situation where a private company can destroy the economy and create misery for millions?
• Why weren't measures and controls in place to ensure this didn't happen?
• Why weren't all the management removed for all the companies involved?
• What measures are now in place?
• What retrospective actions has or is happening to hold the banking system accountable for the misery they created?

Unfortunately, in the end we only got the perspective of the people that caused this crisis and how they went about trying to fix it.

There were other options; how about nationalising the banks to ensure credit was lent to businesses (I know the US is irrationally against any form of socialism, but this was a viable option). A recession is not caused by the banks going bankrupt, it was caused by the lack of "credit" being available to businesses and people, so resolve that issue, rather than just keeping the guilty people in a job and maintaining a morally corrupt system.

Anyway, it was a well-made documentary, just too one sided and no real challenging questions were put to the people who caused the problem.

I thought this documentary was a great re-telling and explanation of all the moving parts of the '08 financial crisis. Having the key players interviewed and explain their thought processes was a good way to tell the story.

The obligatory Holly-weird anti-Trump nonsense at the end of the film was wholly unnecessary and seemed beyond oddly out of place. But, what else can we expect from Holly-weird these days than to blame anything on Trump.

Aside from the absurd connection of Trump to the '08 financial crisis, the film was very good.