Day 166: "For the first time in history, average Americans have less education and are less prosperous than their parents. "

I have always been mystified by the financial world and its labyrinthine, mystical workings.  I have never understood or even pretended to understand how the financial collapse that occurred in the late 00's came to be.  The 2010 Academy Award winning documentary Inside Job chronicles the events leading up to and directly responsible for the crash.  At first glance, this appears to be a document trying to simply tell the story of what happened, but upon watching it, I found myself getting angrier and angrier at the sheer, bald-faced greed and corruption of the parties responsible.  Director Charles Ferguson attempts to, and for the most part succeeds in, tell the entire financial tale in its simplest terms.  I was finally able to understand what the terminology of the world of finance meant.  I have not gotten this angry about a movie for a long time, as Ferguson shows the audience exactly what happened, and what resulted from the sheer greed and criminal behavior of the CEOs of MAJOR investment firms.  How the hell does someone run a huge, multinational investment firm/bank into the ground (Lehman's, Merill Lynch, AIG), defraud shareholders of trillions, yes TRILLIONS, of dollars, be the direct cause the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression, cost others millions of jobs, yet walk away unscathed with huge bonuses.  As a minor example, the former, FIRED, CEO of Merill Lynch got a $161 million bonus as part of his severance package, That's $161,000,000.00;  FOR HIS ACTIONS THAT DESTROYED THE COMPANY.

This documentary examines the greed and over-indulgence that almost caused the world economy to collapse.  The crazy luxuries that these companies indulged themselves with make the 80's look like a conservative trip to the dollar store.  You need to see this movie.  It is a completely level-headed look at the collapse, and made me angrier than I have been in years.  9.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!