"The Big Short"
- Thread starter Chuckinden
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Great film with a fantastic cast. The best thing about it is the use of cutaway scenes to explain complex economic mumbo jumbo.
Saw it in the theater. Loved it. If you liked that, you'll also like The Smartest Guys In The Room, which is also available on Netflix. It's a documentary about the Enron scandal.
Watch the Inside Job as well. The documentary will explain it all much better...
Just watched it last night. Great movie. Alarmed that investment banks are essentially investing in CDO's again just with a new name.
It's a fantastically enjoyable book. One of the best written non-fiction books I've ever picked up. The characters -- even the ones that just pass through for a page or two -- are so well drawn. And the author, Michael Lewis, was smart about which stories to follow. Some are insiders. Some aren't. Sometimes, in his other books, Lewis either drifts or the material just isn't that interesting. Not in The Big Short.
The movie? Well, it handles a detailed narrative pretty well, but the characters are just faces.
I read a lot, but don't usually like to read a book after I've seen the movie. However, I may make an exception in this case.
As the posters have said above, "Inside Job" is simply outstanding if you are interested in this subject.
I would add "Collapse" and "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer" as well. The Elliot Spitzer story is particularly interesting in that he always had a hardon for nailing Wall Street and they took him out and of course all of that preceded the collapse. If you enjoyed "Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room" then that's who made the Spitzer documentary. Lot of people think Spitzer was taken out because he was onto the folks that caused the financial collapse. He definitely was hated on Wall Street.
I would add "Collapse" and "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer" as well. The Elliot Spitzer story is particularly interesting in that he always had a hardon for nailing Wall Street and they took him out and of course all of that preceded the collapse. If you enjoyed "Enron: The Smartest Guy in the Room" then that's who made the Spitzer documentary. Lot of people think Spitzer was taken out because he was onto the folks that caused the financial collapse. He definitely was hated on Wall Street.
In the late 19th century, the Irish fell out on Charles Parnell because of his sexual affair and so delayed their best chance at independence for almost a generation. Spitzer had the stomach and the intelligence to take on Wall Street but his sexual failings have turned him into a pariah. What a waste. Elizabeth Warren has the inclination but not the fire. She's more academic. Spitzer took Wall Street's greed and fraud personally.
Spitzer is an American tragedy. Just a brilliant, brilliant man and more importantly the right man in the right place at the right time. He was our last best hope. I am very cautious about comparing anyone to a Kennedy and I regret my impetuous comparisons of Obama to JFK, but dammit I can't help but see RFK in Spitzer. He was what this country needed as he was a bulldog in going after Wall Street and white collar crime. He was convinced they needed cleaning up and he was wanting to go after the biggest fish in the pond. A pit bull. And it was all squandered over a two-bit hooker.
He also hates Donald Trump. He had AIG in the crosshairs when they brought him down.
He also hates Donald Trump. He had AIG in the crosshairs when they brought him down.
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I read the book after seeing the movie, and I'm very glad I did. Most engrossing book I've read in years, frankly. Had a hard time putting it down, but in all fairness I was in Costa Rica and vacation reading is the best.